The Bertie Black Foundation
Black and Seddon family foundation with £4.8 million of investments, whose largest grant in 2025 went to MyIsrael
| The Bertie Black Foundation
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Trust |
| Founded | 1965-12-15 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 245207 |
| Headquarters | Ground Floor, 4 Portsdown Mews, London NW11 7HD |
| Area served | Throughout London, Israel |
| Key people | Harry Sinclair Black (chair) |
The Bertie Black Foundation was registered on 15 December 1965; register areas are London and Israel.[1] Its trustees are Harry Sinclair Black (chair), Carolyn Black, Isabelle Rachel Seddon and Ivor Henry Seddon, family members and descendants of the founder, Bertie Black; its registered address is Ground Floor, 4 Portsdown Mews, London NW11 7HD (PDF p.3, 5).[1][2] It "made donations to a range of UK charities with the value of grants totalling £112,524 (2024 - £88,473)" (PDF p.4). In the year to 5 April 2025 investment income was £149,312 (rent £35,479), investment losses £263,042 and funds £4,789,561, including freehold investment property of £300,000 (PDF p.8–9, 12).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "FOR SUCH OF THE FOLLOWING OBJECTS AS SHALL BE EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE. THE RELIEF AND ASSISTANCE OF POOR AND NEEDY PERSONS, THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION, THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION OR OTHER PURPOSES BENEFICIAL TO THE COMMUNITY. SUBJECT AS AFORESAID THE TRUST FUND SHALL BE HELD UPON TRUST FOR THE JEWISH BLIND SOCIETY."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "The Charity continues to provide financial support to the needy organisations advancing Education, Religion and Medical Assistance within the community."[1]
Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout London, Israel.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Sinclair Black | not recorded | Yes | — |
| Carolyn Black | not recorded | — | |
| Isabelle Rachel Seddon | not recorded | — | |
| Ivor Henry Seddon | not recorded | — |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
| Capture date | Trustees listed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-13 | Doris Black; Carolyn Black; Harry Sinclair Black (chair); Ivor Henry Seddon; Isabelle Rachel Seddon | [3] |
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-05 | £108,060 | £110,261 |
| 2022-04-05 | £111,705 | £111,589 |
| 2023-04-05 | £125,311 | £109,918 |
| 2024-04-05 | £149,312 | £128,955 |
| 2025-04-05 | £150,312 | £146,408 |
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 05/04/2014[4]
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2015[5]
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2016[6]
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2017[7]
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2018[8]
Funding in Israel
- FY2025 grants £112,524: My Israel £44,300 (2024: nil), Jewish Care £15,000, UK Jewish Film £10,000, Food bank aid £7,500, World Jewish Relief £6,190, GIFT £5,000 and grants under £5,000 £24,534; 2024 grants included British Friends of Jaffa Institute £7,500 and British Emunah £5,000 (PDF p.15).[2]
Israeli partners
No Israeli organisation is paid directly. The largest grant went to "My Israel", which appears to be the UK charity profiled as MyIsrael (identity not confirmed).[2]
Support for the Israeli military
No IDF or military funding is stated in the accounts.[2]
Activity beyond the Green Line
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No place in Israel is named.[2] | Not established |
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 (its latest accounts were received 82 days late);[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]
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 notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[17]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[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 owns and/or leases land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased.[20] Candidate titles and addresses (CCOD dataset and register/accounts data):[21]
- Freehold investment property £300,000; rental income £35,479; address not stated – Accounts (PDF p.9, 12, 17) (source: [2])
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Bertie Black Foundation" returned 0 contributions in total.[22]
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".[3]
See also
External links
- No current official website.
Notes
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Charity Commission, The Bertie Black Foundation (245207): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file). Latest accounts on the register (year to 5 April 2025): archived copy, Wayback Machine, 26 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Register entry 245207, full print (capture of 20210113) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ The Bertie Black Foundation accounts, year ended 2014-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
- ↑ The Bertie Black Foundation accounts, year ended 2015-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
- ↑ The Bertie Black Foundation accounts, year ended 2016-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
- ↑ The Bertie Black Foundation accounts, year ended 2017-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
- ↑ The Bertie Black Foundation accounts, year ended 2018-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200106).
- ↑ 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-14 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Nineteen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; Friends of the Israel Cancer Association showed "up to date (13 days late)" and The Bertie Black Foundation "up to date (82 days late)"; British Friends of Neve Shalom, Mesila UK, The Friends of Ohr Akiva Institutions and Etz Chaim Foundation showed "Removed charity".
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 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").
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-14 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-14 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Bertie Black Foundation' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-245207 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-14 screening covered 282 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, directors of the dissolved Etz Chaim Foundation company and of Mesila UK Limited, related companies and charities named in the accounts (including Bestgreat Ltd, Jonvan Properties, One Shakespeare Limited, Beauland Limited, Tifereth Benevolent Fund Limited and Torah Temimah Trust) and trustees, examiners and donors named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person or company was found; the only token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Cohen and Jones); lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, UK companies that own property in England and Wales (CCOD) and Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales (OCOD) full extracts, October 2026 release, matched on charitable company numbers (including the dissolved Etz Chaim Foundation, 04773267) and on the charities' registered names; title numbers listed are candidates only – no title registers were purchased.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Bertie Black Foundation" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).