Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring)

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Hendon trust supporting Jewish visitors to Dharamshala in India and a community in Israel of former visitors to India; its administration costs rose from £700 to £11,345 in 2024/25

Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring)

Logo Chabad House Dharamkot 2014.jpg
Type Trust
Founded 1974-04-26 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 267217
Headquarters London NW11
Area served India, Israel


The Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) (also registered as "The Friends of Shamir (Education and Relief Fund)") is a trust registered on 26 April 1974; its register areas are India and Israel.[1] Its trust deed of 12 February 2007, as described in the accounts, is to "assist and support the education and the religious needs of Jewish visitors to the Indian Himalayas and in particular to the town of Dharamshala, India, and also to support the community which has been created in Israel from former Jewish visitors to India" (PDF p.4).[2] The trustees are Dror Shaul, Jerome Moss and Stephen Lever; the principal office is in London NW4 (PDF p.3).[2] In the year to 30 September 2025 income was £83,753 (2024: £48,010); grants were £37,825, to "Chabad of Dharamsala" (£19,209) and "Merkoz Yichuda Ilaa" (£18,616) (PDF p.5, 8, 11).[2]

Objects and activities

A street in Dharamkot, above Dharamshala (2024), the Himalayan village the Commons description calls the "Mini Israel of India"; the charity supports Jewish visitors to Dharamshala

The charity's registered objects read: "THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND THE RELIEF OF SICKNESS AND POVERTY AMONGST IMMIGRANTS TO ISRAEL AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD"[1]

The register describes its activities as: "Support education of Jewish visitors to India and in particular to Dharamsala - North India and to support the community which has been created in Israel from former Jewish visitors to India"[1]

Register classifications: Education/training, Religious Activities.[1]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: India, Israel.[1]

Trustees

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

Trustees of Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
Dror Shaul 2014-03-10 —
Jerome Moss 2017-05-02 —
Stephen Lever 2017-05-02 —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2010-07-07 Ester Kalms Peter Kalms [3]
2010-07-09 Ester Kalms Peter Kalms [4]
2021-01-06 Dror Shaul (from 10 March 2014); Jerome Moss (from 02 May 2017); Stephen Lever (from 02 May 2017) [5]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-09-30 £12,443 £11,555
2022-09-30 £28,051 £21,041
2023-09-30 £64,333 £72,902
2024-09-30 £48,010 £45,656
2025-09-30 £83,753 £49,211

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 30/09/2014[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 30/09/2015[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 30/09/2016[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 30/09/2017[9]
  • Accounts for the year ended 30/09/2018[10]
  • Accounts for the year ended 30/09/2019[11]

Funding in Israel

  • Year to 30 September 2025 grants: Merkoz Yichuda Ilaa £18,616 (2024: £44,690); Chabad of Dharamsala £19,209 (2024: £68) (PDF p.11).[2]

Israeli partners

"Merkoz Yichuda Ilaa" is named as a grantee; the accounts do not say where it is, though the charity's objects include the community "created in Israel from former Jewish visitors to India" (PDF p.4, 11).[2] "Chabad of Dharamsala" works in India.[2]

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
No place in Israel is named for Merkoz Yichuda Ilaa or the Israeli community (PDF p.4, 11).[2] Not established

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[2]

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;[12] 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.[13][14][15][16] 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.[17]
  • Administration costs and examiner. Administration costs rose to £11,345 (2024: £700) without explanation; the independent examiner, Batsheva Lazar, gives as her address the address the register records as the charity's contact address (PDF p.6, 11).[2][1]
  • Balance-sheet error. The balance sheet gives 2024 funds as "14", while the statement of financial activities shows opening funds of £2,368 (PDF p.8–9).[2]

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).[18] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[19]

The Gazette

Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[20]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[21]

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. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[22]

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.[23]

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Friends of Shamir", "Inner Wellspring" returned 0 contributions in total.[24]

Web archive

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]

External links

  • No current official website.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Charity Commission, Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) (267217): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  3. ↑ Register entry 267217, contact and trustees (capture of 20100707) UK Government Web Archive.
  4. ↑ Register entry 267217, contact and trustees (capture of 20100709) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Register entry 267217, full print (capture of 20210106) UK Government Web Archive.
  6. ↑ Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) accounts, year ended 2014-09-30 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  7. ↑ Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) accounts, year ended 2015-09-30 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  8. ↑ Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) accounts, year ended 2016-09-30 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  9. ↑ Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) accounts, year ended 2017-09-30 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  10. ↑ Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) accounts, year ended 2018-09-30 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  11. ↑ Friends of Shamir (Inner Wellspring) accounts, year ended 2019-09-30 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  12. ↑ 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-19 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Twenty-two registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; British Friends of Ramoth Jerusalem showed "Charity reporting is overdue by 1691 days"; Leibovici Charitable Trust and Friends of Bereaved Families Forum (1118221) showed "Removed charity".
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  15. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  16. ↑ 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).
  17. ↑ 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").
  18. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-19 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  19. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-19 charity names returned zero results).
  20. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Friends of Shamir' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  21. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-267217 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  22. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-19 screening covered 358 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, and trustees, examiners, grantees and other people and bodies named in the accounts and sources read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Miller, Gold) or generic words in organisation names (Trust, Ltd, Limited).
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Friends of Shamir" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
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