Children of Peace

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Charity for Israeli and Palestinian children aged 4–17 whose 2024 report describes a fun day at the Murad Center in the West Bank and water tanks for a school in Rafah, Gaza; its examiner could not verify the split between restricted and unrestricted funds

Children of Peace

Type Other
Founded 2005-11-25 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 1112301
Headquarters Care of Thorne Widgery Accountants, Wyevale Business Park, Hereford HR4 (register); the accounts give a principal address in Uckfield, East Sussex TN22
Area served Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Key people Richard Malcolm Martin (chair)
Website www.childrenofpeace.org.uk

Children of Peace (also registered as "COP") is a charity governed by a constitution adopted on 27 June 2005 and amended in 2005 and 2008, registered on 25 November 2005; its address is in Hereford HR4 and its areas of operation are Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.[1][2] The register describes it as "a non-partisan charity dedicated to building friendship, trust and reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian children, aged 4 - 17, and their communities".[1] The register lists Richard Malcolm Martin (chair), Dominic Martin, Clare Bolt, Sarah Annes Brown, Trevor Mepham, Jessica Dollman and Paige Donoghue as trustees; the 2024 report also lists Antonia Leslie and Claire Allen (treasurer, resigned 3 February 2025).[1][3] The report says that "Although the October 7th War 2023 limited our peace and reconciliation work and we stopped all grants into Gaza, 2024 saw numerous developments", and describes a "Coalition of Peace" network with affiliates in countries including "Gaza, Israel, Jordan ... and the West Bank".[3] In 2024 receipts were £31,914 unrestricted and £436 restricted, and payments £8,316, including grants of £2,310 and website costs of £4,676.[3] Its website names Dame Judi Dench as Lead Patron.[4]

Records

Internet presence

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "THE RELIEF OF POVERTY HARDSHIP AND DISTRESS AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AMONG CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 7-17 WITHIN ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN COMMUNITIES BY THE PROVISION OF SPONSORED RECREATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES, SUMMER CAMPS, OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOREIGN TRAVEL AND SUCH OTHER EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE MEANS AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL FROM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE"[1]

The register describes its activities as: "Children of Peace is a non-partisan charity dedicated to building friendship, trust and reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian children, aged 4 - 17, and their communities. Our aim is to develop a shared spirit via arts, education, health and sports programmes; so future generations might live and work peacefully side-by-side."[1]

Register classifications: Education/training, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Arts/culture/heritage/science, Amateur Sport.[1]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories.[1]

Trustees

Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]

Trustees of Children of Peace (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
Richard Malcolm Martin not recorded Yes —
Dominic Martin 2011-06-29 —
Clare Bolt 2011-06-29 —
Sarah Annes Brown 2011-06-29 The Science Fiction Foundation (1041052)
Trevor Mepham 2011-06-29 —
Jessica Dollman 2011-06-29 —
Paige Donoghue 2022-03-20 —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2021-01-16 Dominic Martin (from 29 June 2011); Claire Allen; Antonia Leslie (from 29 June 2011); Richard Malcolm Martin (chair); Sarah Annes Brown (from 29 June 2011) – also trustee of The Science Fiction Foundation; Trevor Mepham (from 29 June 2011); Jessica Dollman (from 29 June 2011); Clare Bolt (from 29 June 2011) [5]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2020-12-31 £8,455 £12,836
2021-12-31 £28,591 £23,583
2022-12-31 £16,001 £11,061
2023-12-31 £46,560 £15,635
2024-12-31 £32,350 £8,316

Source: register annual-return history.[1]

Archived accounts

Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2015[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2016[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2018[8]

Funding in Israel

  • 2024: grants given £2,310, including a "Humans Without Borders (Israel) Annual Fun Day for sick and disabled Palestinian children, their families and community on 23rd August 2024 at Murad Center, West Bank"; "In September 2024 we installed water tanks into the Children of Peace School in Rafah, Gaza to assist over 200 people sheltering there." The account does not give the amount for each.[3]

Israeli partners

Humans Without Borders (Israel); the Children of Peace School in Rafah, Gaza; affiliates of its Coalition of Peace network.[3]

Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF

Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.

Evidence of activity beyond the 1949 armistice line
Finding Confidence
The 2024 report places a funded fun day "at Murad Center, West Bank".[3] High (the accounts state "West Bank")
The 2024 report describes water tanks installed at "the Children of Peace School in Rafah, Gaza".[3] High (the accounts state "Rafah, Gaza")

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[3]

Controversies and regulatory action

  • No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[9] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[10][11][12][13] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[14]
  • Examiner unable to verify fund split. The independent examiner, Lisa Weaver FCCA, reports: "We were unable to verify income classifications between funds as accounting records were not available to support income during the course of our work. The records are held by a preceding bookkeeper who has not been responsive to request from us as Independent Examiners and the management at Children of Peace. Therefore, we cannot confirm that the closing funds balances between unrestricted and restricted are correct." The report header gives the year as ending "31/12/2025", the body "31/12/2024".[3]
  • Reserves figure restated. The reserves text says "total reserves at 31/12/23 were actually £70,091", while the receipts and payments account shows opening cash funds of £70,965.[3]

Other registers and records

Scotland and Northern Ireland

No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[15] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[16]

The Gazette

Searches of The Gazette for "Children of Peace" returned notices using the phrase in other contexts (such as a 1793 loyal address); no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice naming this charity was found.[17]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

Grants received (360Giving data)
Date Funder Amount (£) Purpose
2006-11-06 The National Lottery Community Fund 10,000 A project in Israel, West Bank and Gaza to conduct research, liaise with local partners and employ a part-time operational manager. The aim

No grants made by the charity are published in 360Giving data, so flows between linked charities could not be traced there.[18] A record from the Woodward Charitable Trust (£3,000 on 27 June 2007, "Part-time Youth Advice & Development Worker") carries this charity number but names the recipient as Action Community Resource Development (ACOMREDE), a different organisation; it appears to be an identifier error in the source data and is excluded.[18]

Sanctions screening

The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found.[19]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[20]

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Children of Peace" returned 0 contributions in total.[21]

Web archive

  • childrenofpeace.org.uk: 20 yearly captures, first 2007-01-08, last 2026-01-07.[22]

The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification, charity_other_names), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  2. ↑ Charity Commission, Children of Peace (1112301): full print Register of Charities, retrieved 16 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Charity Commission, Children of Peace (1112301): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; trustees' report and receipts and payments accounts for the year to 31 December 2024, downloaded 16 October 2026 (PDF pages 10–11 are scanned images, read from the page images; "PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  4. ↑ Children of Peace, Home page childrenofpeace.org.uk, viewed 16 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Register entry 1112301, full print (capture of 20210116) UK Government Web Archive.
  6. ↑ Children of Peace accounts, year ended 2015-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  7. ↑ Children of Peace accounts, year ended 2016-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  8. ↑ Children of Peace accounts, year ended 2018-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  9. ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-25 charities, all retrieved on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" notice; none showed one.
  10. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  11. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  12. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date).
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
  15. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-25 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  16. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-25 charity names returned zero results).
  17. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Children of Peace' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1112301 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  19. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-25 screening covered 459 name strings: the 25 charity names and their other names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees, officers, examiners and other people and organisations named in the accounts and websites read for this batch, every person and organisation linked in the profiles, and the Companies House officers of the charitable companies and of the related companies Renco Properties, Conlatuse and Landmead; the only hits were generic words (the word "QA" in the names of corporate formation agents) and surname-only matches, which were rejected; no person matched. Screened 16 October 2026.
  20. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access in October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
  21. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Children of Peace" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
  22. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for childrenofpeace.org.uk Wayback Machine, queried 16 October 2026.
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