Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd
From Democracywiki
The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd. was set up by Joseph Rowntree. He was a Quaker business man with a life long concern for the alleviation of poverty and the other great social ills of his day. In 1904 he transferred a large part of his wealth, made from the confectionery company bearing his family name, to three trusts, each designed to reflect and develop different aspects of his thinking about contemporary social problems.
Political Interests
Unlike other organisations bearing Joseph Rowntree's name, JRRT is a limited company which pays tax on its income and is therefore free to give grants for political purposes.
It has been doing so since 1904 in order to promote political reform and constitutional change as well as the interests of social justice, and does this by funding campaigning organisations and individuals who have reform as their objective, which includes individual politicians and those political parties who are working for reform on particular issues. It has made substantial donations to all three major parties, or groups within them; to minority parties, and to most of the parties in Northern Ireland in order to assist in the peace process.
Although it has reduced funding related to the Labour Party, since it is currently in power, it has continued to offer support to Labour people promoting constitutional reform. Within the Tories, it has offered substantial support for pro-Europe groups, and has continued to provide significant financial support to the Liberal Democrats in order to redress the imbalance of financial support which that party suffers as the third party. All it's political donations are recorded at Companies House and with the relevant Parliamentary Commissions.
