The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust
The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust is a UK grant making charity controlled by one branch of the wealthy Wolfson family. The charity was created by a Trust Deed dated 14 July 1960 and was registered as a UK charity on 8 January 1965. [1] As at 8 July 2010 the trustees were Thatcher's former Chief of Staff David Wolfson, his two sons Simon and Andrew, and Sara Leven. [2] The Trust's original founder, Charles Wolfson, was David Wolfson's father [3] and the brother of Isaac Wolfson who was chairman of Great Universal Stores and co-founder of the Wolfson Foundation. [4]
Contents
Funding
The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust provided a total of £45,000 to Civitas between 2006 and 2008.[5]. The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust provided £75,000 to Policy Exchange in 2007[6] and £143,666 in 2008.[7] The Trust’s donations are not declared in its 2009 or 2010 accounts.
The Trust paid £75,000 to Policy Exchange in 2011 and £601,000 in 2012.[8] In 2013, Policy Exchange refunded £63,040. These payments were recorded as related party transactions because Lord Wolfson of Apsley Guise was a Policy Exchange trustee.[9]
The trust has funded other right-wing think-tanks including Civitas, the Social Affairs Unit, the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Adam Smith Research Trust[10] and has also funded pro-Israel groups like the Israel-Diaspora Trust and the Anglo-Israel Association.[11]
In 2003 the Guardian newspaper reported:
- The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust made payments of £220,000 in 2000-01, and £230,000 the previous year, to a firm of solicitors of which trustee John Franks was a consultant. Lord Wolfson of Sunningdale, another trustee, said that Franks did not receive any remuneration for the work done on behalf of the charity and that the work of the law firm was costed against other firms. "We discussed this recently with the charity commission, as part of one of their random visits, and they were satisfied that this was an arm's-length transaction," said Wolfson.[12]
People
Trustees
Contact
- Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust
- 8/10 Hallam Street
- London, W1W 6NS
Notes
- ↑ Screengrab of Charity Commission, The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust > Charity framework, created 8 July 2010
- ↑ Screengrab of Charity Commission, The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust > Contact & trustees, created 8 July 2010
- ↑ ‘WOLFSON OF SUNNINGDALE’, Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 2009, accessed 8 July 2010
- ↑ ‘WOLFSON, Sir Isaac’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, accessed 8 July 2010
- ↑ Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust Financial Statements 5 April 2006. Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust Financial Statements 5 April 2007. Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust Financial Statements 5 April 2008
- ↑ Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, Financial statements 5 April 2007, p.23.
- ↑ Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, Financial statements 5 April 2008, p.23.
- ↑ Financial Statements, Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, 5 April 2012, p.20.
- ↑ Financial Statements, The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, 5 April 2013, p.20.
- ↑ Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, Financial statements 5 April 2007, p.23-4. Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, Financial statesments 5 April 2008, p.23.
- ↑ Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, Financial statements 5 April 2007, p.23.
- ↑ Patrick McCurry, 'Matter of trust', The Guardian, 19 February 2003.
- ↑ Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, Open Charities. Accessed 27 March 2014.
