The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute

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North-west London charity supporting the Feuerstein Institute (ICELP) in Jerusalem, whose president is one of its trustees; its 2024/25 donations of £22,250 went to an unnamed recipient and its governing-document descriptions contradict one another

The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute

Type Other
Founded 2007-02-15 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 1117992
Headquarters London NW11
Area served Israel
Key people Charlotte Dunner (chair)
Website www.feuerstein-global.org


The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute (also recorded as The British Friends of the Feuerstein Centre) was registered on 15 February 2007; the register records a constitution adopted on 25 October 2006 and amended on 10 January 2007 and 16 March 2012.[1][2] Its address is in London NW11 and its only recorded area of operation is Israel.[1] Its objects concern the special educational needs of children and young adults, in particular through "the International Centre of Learning Potential (ICELP) also known as the Feuerstein Centre in Jerusalem".[3] The trustees are Rafael Simon Feuerstein, Andrew Trevor Cohen (from 2013), Perla Roth (from 2017) and Charlotte Dunner (chair, from 2017); Andrew Trevor Cohen runs the day-to-day administration.[1][3] The institute's website describes "הרב ד"ר רפי פוירשטיין" (Rabbi Dr Rafi Feuerstein) as its president and director-general ("נשיא ומנכ"ל המכון") since 2014, after the death of his father, Reuven Feuerstein.[4] In the year to 31 March 2025 donations were £27,017 (2024: £47,409); charitable donations were £22,250 (2024: £53,000), governance £1,080 and bank charges £136, and funds rose to £4,897 (2024: £1,337).[3] The accounts were examined by Michael Weissbraun FCA of Weissbraun Emanuel and approved on 8 January 2026 by Andrew Trevor Cohen.[3]

Objects and activities

Reuven Feuerstein (2009), founder of the institute that the charity supports and father of its trustee Rafael Feuerstein

The charity's registered objects read: "TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS' SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY PROVIDING SUPPORT AND ASSISTANCE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF THE ENHANCEMENT OF LEARNING POTENTIAL (ICELP) ALSO KNOWN AS THE FEUERSTINE CENTRE IN JERUSALEM IN ORDER TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS ATTENDING THERE AS THE TRUSTEES MAY DECIDE.IT IS ALSO CONFIRMED THAT THE TRUSTEES MUST HAVE DISCRETION OVER THE APPLICATION OF THE FUNDS RAISED BY THE CHARITY."[1]

The register describes its activities as: "The Charity accepts request from impoverished individuals and families and on that basis applies to individuals for donations in order to alleviate poverty and payments are made by the Trustees as and when they see fit."[1]

Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training.[1]

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

Trustees

Rabbi Dr Rafael (Rafi) Feuerstein, a trustee, as shown on the Feuerstein Institute's website, which names him as its president

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

Trustees of The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
Rafael Simon Feuerstein not recorded —
Andrew Trevor Cohen 2013-01-29 Limmud (1083414); Michael Watson Charitable Trust (1163309)
Perla Roth 2017-04-18 —
Charlotte Dunner 2017-05-02 Yes —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2021-01-15 Charlotte Dunner (chair) (from 02 May 2017); Perla Roth (from 18 April 2017); Rafael Simon Feuerstein; Andrew Trevor Cohen (from 29 January 2013) – also trustee of Michael Watson Charitable Trust [5]

Andrew Trevor Cohen is also a register trustee of Limmud (1083414) and the Michael Watson Charitable Trust (1163309).[1]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-03-31 £21,250 £30,869
2022-03-31 £484 £238
2023-03-31 £15,000 £8,097
2024-03-31 £47,425 £53,734
2025-03-31 £27,026 £23,466

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 31/03/2014[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2015[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2016[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2017[9]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2018[10]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2019[11]

Funding in Israel

The Feuerstein Institute's building in Sderot Ben Tsvi, Jerusalem (2017). The charity's objects name the institute (ICELP) in Jerusalem
  • Year to 31 March 2025: charitable donations of £22,250 (2024: £53,000); no recipient is named.[3]

Israeli partners

The International Centre of Learning Potential (ICELP), "also known as the Feuerstein Centre in Jerusalem", named in the objects.[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 objects place the institute in Jerusalem; a Wikimedia Commons photograph description gives its building as Sderot Ben Tsvi 39, Jerusalem. Neither refers to the 1949 line.[3][12] Medium (city stated by the accounts; address from a photograph description)

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;[13] 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.[14][15][16][17] 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.[18]
  • Trustee is the beneficiary's president. Trustee Rabbi Rafael Simon Feuerstein is, according to the institute's website, its president; the accounts name no recipient for the £22,250 of donations and contain no related-party disclosure about him.[4][3]
  • Contradictory constitution. The report says the charity was "established by a charitable trust deed on 25th October 2006"; note 1 calls it "a deed of trust" and "an unincorporated charity" but gives the number of another charity, "registered charity no. 293580"; the report also says "All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1".[3]
  • Activity text at odds with the objects. The register activity and the report's plans both say "The Charity accepts requests from impoverished individuals and families and on that basis applies to individuals for donations in order to alleviate poverty", which does not match its special-educational-needs objects. The "Achievements and performance" heading has no text.[1][3]
  • Withdrawn accounting framework. The examiner draws attention to the use of the withdrawn 2005 Statement of Recommended Practice.[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).[19] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[20]

The Gazette

Searches of The Gazette for the charity's name returned only Companies House filing lists; no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice naming the charity was found.[21]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[22]

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.[23]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased.[24]

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute", "British Friends of the Feuerstein Centre" returned 0 contributions in total.[25]

Web archive

  • feuerstein-global.org: 8 yearly captures, first 2012-04-26, last 2022-06-29.[26]

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

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 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, The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute (1117992): full print Register of Charities, retrieved 16 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Charity Commission, The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute (1117992): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Feuerstein Institute, הרב ד"ר רפי פוירשטיין (Rabbi Dr Rafi Feuerstein; in Hebrew) feuerstein-institute.co.il, viewed 16 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Register entry 1117992, full print (capture of 20210115) UK Government Web Archive.
  6. ↑ The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute accounts, year ended 2014-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  7. ↑ The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute accounts, year ended 2015-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  8. ↑ The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute accounts, year ended 2016-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  9. ↑ The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute accounts, year ended 2017-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  10. ↑ The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
  11. ↑ The British Friends of the Feuerstein Institute accounts, year ended 2019-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200702).
  12. ↑ Wikimedia Commons file pages for the photographs used in this profile (author, licence and description as stated there), viewed 16 October 2026.
  13. ↑ 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-26 charities, all retrieved on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" notice; none showed one.
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  15. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  16. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  17. ↑ 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).
  18. ↑ 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").
  19. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-26 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  20. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-26 charity names returned zero results).
  21. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Feuerstein' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  22. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1117992 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  23. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-26 screening covered 224 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, and the Companies House officers of the charitable companies; the only hits were generic words in company names (such as "Company Directors Limited") and surname-only matches, which were rejected; no person matched. Screened 16 October 2026.
  24. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK, accessed 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.
  25. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Feuerstein" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
  26. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for feuerstein-global.org Wayback Machine, queried 16 October 2026.
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