The Charles Plater Trust is a charitable organisation dedicated to advancing the work of Father Charles Plater by developing social justice through education. Established as the successor to the former Plater College, Oxford, the Trust makes grants to organisations throughout England and Wales in pursuit of the Plater vision in its modern context. Grants are made for projects which highlight a particular side of this vision, whether emphasising the development of lay leadership, bringing education and opportunity to the most marginalised, or developing innovative new applications of Catholic social thought and teaching.
Please note: The Trust does not award grants to individuals but only to charitable organisations. Grants are only awarded following an annual invitation for applications (usually in September each year). Unsolicited applications will not be considered.
Latest News
Interim Trust Manager
Andy Haines has now taken over from Kevin Ambrose as Interim Trust Manager.
Andy joined the Plater Trust in 2019 as a member of the Grant Making Board and the Finance Committee. He has stepped down from both these bodies to act as interim manager. He has long experience of the voluntary sector as a senior manager and trustee which he hopes will equip him to serve the Trust in this temporary role.
The Trust intends to complete its strategic review in the Spring and immediately recruit a permanent manager as it opens its next grant making round in the Summer
Enquiries about the Trust’s work should continue to be addressed to plater@plater.org.uk or plater@catholiceducation.or.uk These are generic email addresses and will continue to be picked up.
(Posted 2nd March 2021)
GRANT MAKING TO RESUME IN SUMMER 2021
Following research undertaken with our current grant holders in November 2020, the trustees have decided to resume grant making at the earliest opportunity in 2021.
Drawing on original new survey data, trustees were able to gain an accurate and up to date picture of the challenges and opportunities now facing the existing portfolio of Plater Trust funded organisations, as they battle to keeps services open and organisations functioning in these testing pandemic times. We looked at how Plater Trust funded charities compared to wider trends in the voluntary sector more broadly, drawing on secondary data, especially the NVCO’s COVID-19 impact barometer, to analyse the current challenges facing both charities and their funders going forward.
HEADLINES – What is the latest data telling us?
With income down, demand up and services having to be transformed to be covid-secure, the pandemic presents unique challenges for Plater Trust funded charities, as well as for the voluntary sector more broadly.
- The impact of the pandemic has been very variable on the charities we fund. While 33% of respondents report their finances are deteriorating, 17% say they are improving, with half the organisations we fund not showing any change at all. Similarly, 16% say that since March 2020 they have reduced their range of services while 56% say they have increased them.
- Thankfully, only 6% of Plater funder charities are anticipating closure within the next year.
- But over half (56%) expect their financial position to deteriorate over the next month (Dec 2020).
- At the same time, over three quarters (87%) of the voluntary organisations Plater funds are predicting an increase in demand for their services within the next month (Dec 2020).
These results are clearly just a snapshot in time, but nonetheless provided trustees with a more accurate picture of what is happening on the ground for the charities we currently partner with. As a trust we are committed to resuming our grant making in 2021, so that we can play our small, but important, part to help charities and vulnerable people at this difficult and uncertain time. We expect adverts to go live inviting applications in July 2021
Meanwhile as a Trust we are also currently reviewing the implications of the pandemic for the Plater Trust itself and how best to support future grant holders. We are auditing our own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and will consider what might need to be changed or improved in terms of Plater’s overarching theory of change, our grant making operations and future staffing and governance needs. We remain committed to providing the best quality support possible to all those on the frontline, who inspire us with their unstinting commitment to turn Catholic Social Teaching into a lived reality in these most unprecedented times.
(Posted 2nd March 2021)