Dover Sholem Community Trust
Hackney Orthodox Jewish grant-making charity under Charity Commission inquiry
| Dover Sholem Community Trust | |
|---|---|
| Type | Charity |
| Logo | |
| Founded | |
| Founder(s) | |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | 1138710 |
| Status | |
| Headquarters | |
| Location | 1 Belz Terrace, London E5 9SN |
| Area served | Hackney; Haringey |
| Services | |
| Registration | |
| Key people | |
| Website | |
| Remarks | |
Dover Sholem Community Trust is an England and Wales registered charity (number 1138710).Charity Commission, DOVER SHOLEM COMMUNITY TRUST - 1138710 Register of Charities, accessed 12 September 2026. Its recorded objects are the advancement of the Orthodox Jewish faith, Orthodox Jewish religious education, and the relief of poverty in the Orthodox Jewish community. It operates in Hackney and Haringey and makes grants to individuals and organisations.[1]
In the year ending 31 March 2025 it reported income of £3,212,183 and expenditure of £3,355,630, almost all from donations and spent on charitable activities. Grants to institutions in that year were recorded at £1.66 million.[2] The register carries an inquiry alert. The charity was added to the Charity Commission statutory class inquiry into cashed cheques on 1 September 2025, in the second named tranche of a probe covering 105 charities that cashed cheques worth £22 million with a company in Hackney between December 2021 and March 2023.[3] An inquiry is not a finding of wrongdoing.
Objects and activities
The Commission classifies the charity under education and training, disability, and the prevention or relief of poverty. Beneficiaries include people of a particular ethnic or racial origin, other charities, and the general public. The main recorded method of carrying out purposes is grant-making. There are no trading subsidiaries and trustees are unpaid. The Jewish Chronicle described the trust as promoting Orthodox Jewish religious education and assisting with food poverty in the community.Katie Grant, Ten further Orthodox Jewish charities named by regulator investigating cashed cheques worth £22m The Jewish Chronicle, 1 September 2025. Schools Week reported that accounts show the trust supports children with mild to moderate special educational needs and specific learning difficulties.Schools Week, Watchdog widens probe into charities supporting Jewish schools Schools Week, 1 September 2025.
People
The Commission register currently lists one trustee.Charity Commission, Trustees DOVER SHOLEM COMMUNITY TRUST Register of Charities, accessed 12 September 2026. An earlier listing also named Mordechai Jaakov Wind.Charity Commission, Dover Sholem Community Trust - Trustees Register of Charities, retrieved 18 September 2025.
| Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haim Dov Francoz | Trustee | 16 April 2013 | None on record |
| Mordechai Jaakov Wind | Trustee (previously listed) | 16 April 2013 | None on record in 2025 listing |
Finances
Income is recorded as donations and legacies. There is no recorded income from government contracts or grants.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total income | £1.84m | £2.54m | £2.47m | £2.10m | £3,212,183 |
| Total expenditure | £1.71m | £2.53m | £2.50m | £2.14m | £3,355,630 |
| Donations and legacies | £1.84m | £2.54m | £2.47m | £2.10m | £3.21m |
| Charitable activities expenditure | £1.71m | £2.53m | £2.50m | £2.14m | £3.36m |
| Governance | £6.80k | £16.35k | £73.50k | £16.85k | £12.64k |
| Grants to institutions | £223.62k | £650.89k | £241.46k | £270.15k | £1.66m |
At 31 March 2025 other assets were £494,350 and total liabilities £688,170.Charity Commission, DOVER SHOLEM COMMUNITY TRUST assets and liabilities Register of Charities, accessed 12 September 2026. Annual returns for 2022–2025 were received on time; the 2021 filing was one day late.Charity Commission, DOVER SHOLEM COMMUNITY TRUST accounts and annual returns Register of Charities, accessed 12 September 2026.
Grant categories
Figures below are taken from the charity’s financial statements as compiled in an earlier register extract of annual returns.Charity Commission, Dover Sholem Community Trust - Annual Returns Reports Register of Charities, retrieved 23 September 2025.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training and SEN services | £16,088 | £9,564 | £7,396 | £33,048 | |||
| Awards and student grants | £1,287,647 | £1,579,116 | £1,697,614 | £2,513,537 | £2,425,225 | £2,126,522 | £11,629,661 |
| Other | £16,348 | £73,497 | £89,845 | ||||
| Total | £1,303,735 | £1,588,680 | £1,705,010 | £2,529,885 | £2,498,722 | £2,126,522 |
Institutional grant recipients
Named institutional grants from the same statements:
| Recipient | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clapton Common Boys Club | £12,221 | £12,221 | ||||
| Chasdei Sholom Trust | £36,000 | £36,000 | ||||
| Moreshet Hatorah Limited | £34,421 | £83,600 | £425,668 | £543,689 | ||
| North London Welfare and Educational Foundation | £20,000 | £20,000 | ||||
| The Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass Trust | £124,305 | £124,305 | ||||
| Belz Foundation Ltd | £34,023 | £34,023 | ||||
| Belz Synagogue | £14,545 | £58,172 | £223,160 | £54,000 | £349,877 | |
| Shefa Claim | £33,560 | £68,650 | £102,210 | |||
| Yedidim Association Ltd | £54,000 | £54,000 | ||||
| Fundd | £100,430 | £100,430 | ||||
| The Community Hub | £17,530 | £17,530 | ||||
| Other donations under £10,000 | £41,649 | £91,911 | £79,025 | £18,304 | £31,540 | £262,429 |
| Total (institutional, as listed) | £268,596 | £223,616 | £650,888 | £241,464 | £272,150 |
Charity Commission inquiry
The class inquiry began after an unannounced HM Revenue and Customs visit to a company in Hackney found that 105 charities had cashed cheques with it to a value of £22 million between December 2021 and March 2023.Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025. Ten charities were named in May 2025. On 1 September 2025 the Commission named a further ten, including Dover Sholem Community Trust, Ezer Viznitz Foundation, Satmar Nursery Trust, Lehachyos, Friends of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz, Vyoel Moshe Charitable Trust, The Z.S.V. Trust, United Talmudical Associates Ltd, Forty Limited and Bnois Jerusalem Schools. The Commission ordered charities under inquiry not to issue cheques without its prior consent. It said it would examine how funds were transferred, trustee oversight of cash obtained from cashed cheques, whether spending furthered charitable purposes, and how trustees decided the transactions were in each charity’s best interests. On 9 September 2026 four charities from that September 2025 tranche were removed from the inquiry. Dover Sholem Community Trust was not among them, and its register entry still records that an inquiry has been opened.[4]
Contact
Address: 1 Belz Terrace, London E5 9SN Telephone: 020 8800 6599 Charity number: 1138710
See also
- Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques
- Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator
- British Jewish charities investigated by the Charity Commission
External links
Charity Commission register entry for Dover Sholem Community Trust
Notes
- ↑ Charity Commission, DOVER SHOLEM COMMUNITY TRUST what, who, how, where Register of Charities, accessed 12 September 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, DOVER SHOLEM COMMUNITY TRUST financial history Register of Charities, accessed 12 September 2026.
- ↑ Charlie Moloney, Commission investigates 10 further charities in £22m cashed cheques probe Third Sector, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026.