The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust
London grant-making trust (charity 276439) giving small grants to Jewish, Israeli and general charities, including Beit Halochem UK
| The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Charitable trust |
| Founded | registered 11 October 1978 |
| Registration ID | Charity 276439 |
| Headquarters | c/o Payne Hicks Beach, 10 New Square, London WC2A 3QG |
| Key people | Sara Cohen, Martin Paisner, Philip Simon Cohen (trustees) |
The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust is a UK-based grant-giving charity (charity no. 276439), registered on 11 October 1978.[1]
Trustees
| Name | Role | Date Appointed |
|---|---|---|
| Philip Simon Cohen | Trustee | 03 June 2021 |
| Martin Paisner | Trustee | |
| Denise Cohen | Trustee | |
| Sara Cohen | Trustee |
The register (October 2026) lists three trustees: Sara Cohen, Martin Paisner CBE and Philip Simon Cohen; Denise Cohen is no longer listed.[2] Martin Paisner is a partner at Payne Hicks Beach, the trust's address, which was paid £2,100 for legal services in 2023–24 (note 8, PDF p.14).[3]
Grant Recipients
Filed accounts 2010–11 to 2014–15
The accounts for the years ended 2011-04-05, 2012-04-05, 2013-04-05, 2014-04-05 and 2015-04-05 were read from copies of the Charity Commission files held by the UK Government Web Archive.[5][6][7][8][9] The trustees named in every year are Mrs Denise Cohen, Martin Paisner CBE and Miss Sara Cohen.[6][9]
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total incoming resources | 55,032 | 57,664 | 48,960 | 38,037 | 33,719 |
| Donations made | 70,960 | 70,794 | 70,155 | 67,592 | 78,883 |
| Recipient | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Friends of AWIS | 500 | 500 | 500 | ||
| Beit Halochem UK | 250 | 250 | 250 | 2,000 | |
| British Emunah Fund / Emunah / Child Resettlement Fund | 3,200 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 | |
| WIZO UK | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 500 |
| Zionist Federation (2012: its Shalom Foundation) | 750 | 500 | |||
| United Jewish Israel Appeal | 250 | 250 | |||
| One Family UK | 200 | 200 | 200 | 500 | |
| Friends of Yad Sarah | 200 | 200 | 200 | 1,250 | 200 |
| Magen David Adom | 1,500 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 2,500 |
| Weizmann UK | 2,000 | 4,000 | 2,500 |
Sources: the donations note in each year's accounts; 2010–11 figures are the comparatives in the 2011–12 accounts, because the 2010–11 copy is a poor scan.[5][6][7][8][9] Smaller Israel-related donations went to Ben-Gurion University Foundation, British Friends of Herzog Hospital, Rambam Medical Centre, Zaka, Reuth, Rachashei Lev, Shaare Zedek and Technion UK.
The latest accounts filed (year to 5 April 2024; 2025 income of £24,732 was below the £25,000 filing threshold) list grants of £22,835 (2023: £41,090). Israel-related grants (£):[3]
| Recipient | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Beit Halochem UK | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Magen David Adom | 2,000 | – |
| Shaare Zedek UK | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| British Emunah Fund | 2,000 | – |
| Technion UK | 1,500 | – |
| Friends of Yad Sarah | 700 | 500 |
| Israeli Dance Institute | 500 | 600 |
| Yad Vashem | 500 | 500 |
| British Friends of Aleh | 500 | – |
| UK Friends of Schneider Childrens Hospital | 250 | – |
| WIZO UK | 250 | – |
| British Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Centre | 200 | – |
| British Friends of Reuth | 200 | – |
Finances
| Year ending | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-05 | £14,737 | £92,416 |
| 2022-04-05 | £16,600 | £77,729 |
| 2023-04-05 | £19,569 | £58,263 |
| 2024-04-05 | £27,020 | £40,354 |
| 2025-04-05 | £24,732 | £119,678 |
Source: register annual-return history; latest accounts filed (year to 5 April 2024) received 5 February 2025.[2]
Support for the Israeli military
Grants. The trust gave £500 a year in 2011–12 to 2013–14 to UK Friends of AWIS, whose registered objects are the relief of need and suffering of serving and discharged Israeli soldiers and their families,[10] and £250–£2,000 a year in 2011–12 to 2014–15 to Beit Halochem UK, which supports disabled veterans of the Israel Defense Forces.[7][9] The grants table above shows £500 to AWIS in each of 2018 and 2019 and £2,500, £4,000 and £4,000 to Beit Halochem UK in 2016, 2017 and 2019; the 2024 accounts show £2,000 to Beit Halochem UK in each of 2022–23 and 2023–24.[3] Grade: High, for the recipients' purposes.
Prior scrutiny. In February 2024 David Miller, writing for PressTV, named the trust among about twenty charities that had donated to UK Friends of AWIS, and it is listed on the Powerbase page UK AWIS - supporters.[11] No Charity Commission inquiry or warning concerning the trust was found.
Activity beyond the Green Line
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| Donations of £2,000–£4,000 a year to the British Emunah Fund and its Child Resettlement Fund, whose Israeli partner has projects in Pisgat Ze'ev, a settlement in occupied East Jerusalem (graded on its page), and £250–£500 a year to WIZO UK, whose Israeli parent runs day-care centres in settlements in the occupied West Bank (graded on its page).[8][9] | Low – via UK intermediaries |
| No donation in the 2011–2015 accounts is to an organisation located beyond the Green Line.[9] | Not established (2011–2015) |
Controversies and regulatory action
- No regulatory action concerning the trust was found in the register extract or the sources searched. The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this trust is among them.[12]
Contact Info
Register address (October 2026), unchanged:
PAYNE HICKS BEACH 10 NEW SQUARE LONDON WC2A 3QG
Phone:
02074654300
Notes
- ↑ Denise Cohen Charitable Trust, Charity Commission, retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (bulk download, tables charity, charity_trustee and charity_annual_return_history dated 14 October 2026), rows for charity 276439.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Denise Cohen Charitable Trust, Financial statements for the year ended 5 April 2024, from accounts and annual returns Register of Charities ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ Denise Cohen Charitable Trust, Accounts and Annual Returns, Charity Commission. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust accounts, year ended 2011-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20150106). Scanned copy.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust accounts, year ended 2012-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20150106).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust accounts, year ended 2013-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20150106).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust accounts, year ended 2014-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20150704).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 The Denise Cohen Charitable Trust accounts, year ended 2015-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20160701).
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract, governing-document row for charity 1084272 (UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers, working name "UK FRIENDS OF AWIS"), table dated 14 October 2026; its objects are "THE RELIEF OF NEED AND SUFFERING OF SERVING AND DISCHARGED ISRAELI SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES".
- ↑ David Miller, How British ‘charities’ are aiding Israeli genocide in Gaza PressTV, 1 February 2024.
- ↑ 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").