King's Trust


The King's Trust is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. Many of the young people helped by the trust face issues such as homelessness, disability, mental health problems, or trouble with the law.
It runs a range of training programmes, providing practical and financial support to build young people's confidence and motivation.
In 1999, the numerous trust charities were brought together as the Prince's Trust and acknowledged by Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace where she granted it a royal charter. The following year it devolved in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and other English regions but overall control remained in London. The King's Trust fundraising and campaign events are often hosted by and feature entertainers from around the world.
The King's Trust is one of the most successful funding organisations in the UK and is the UK's leading youth charity, having helped over 1,000,000 young people turn their lives around, created 125,000 entrepreneurs, and given business support to 395,000 people in the UK. From 2006 to 2016, its work for the youth has been worth an estimated £1.4 billion.
In 2019, the then Prince's Trust signed a partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care to support 10,000 young people into health and social care jobs. This initiative aims to future-proof the sector, provide employment opportunities to young people, and support the department's "widening participation" goals, increasing the diversity of its workforce. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth and the ascension of Charles to the throne, the Prince's Trust was renamed the King's Trust.

Governance

founded the then Prince's Trust and is now its president, a figurehead position with no legal responsibility. The King's Trust Council are the trustees of the charity and are legally responsible for management, administration and deciding policy.
Tom Ilube became Chair of The King’s Trust Council in July 2024, taking over from John Booth who was the chairman of the then Prince’s Trust Council from July 2018 to 2024. Sir Lloyd Dorfman CBE, previously held this position, before becoming the chairman of Prince's Trust International.
Nick Stace, the former chief executive of the Trust, joined in October 2017, replacing Dame Martina Milburn DCVO CBE who was a member of the board and group chief executive for the Prince's Trust. At the end of 2019, Jonathan Townsend took over as interim CEO – a position made permanent in spring 2020.
On 10 November 2023 it was announced the Prince's Trust, and all Prince's Trust charities globally, intend to become the King's Trust. The change enables the group of charities to retain proximity to their founder, the King, and reflects his passion for the charity's mission to help young people into work, education and training.

Staff

In 2019 the then Prince's Trust employed 1241 people, including 1106 people who worked in charitable purposes and support, and 235 in fundraising. The cost of employing these staff is £38 million a year and is the organisation's single biggest expenditure.
Martina Milburn, former chief executive of the Prince's Trust Group, who joined the Trust in 2004 and was appointed group chief executive in 2017, stepped down from this role in September 2022. Previously she worked as the chief executive of BBC Children in Need.
Jonathan Townsend was formally appointed chief executive officer of Prince's Trust UK in April 2020, following an interim period. He was previously the CEO of Prince's Trust International.
Will Straw was appointed chief executive officer of Prince's Trust International in summer 2020.

Ambassadors

The King's Trust consist of different kinds of Ambassadors:
The first are young ambassadors, these are young leaders who are volunteers and support the King's Trust in different ways including motivating other young people and winning contributors and the media about the work the King's Trust do.
The second are job ambassadors. This group has taken part in a King's Trust programme and have graduated from being a Young Ambassador. They are then employed by the King's Trust and work to inspire, motivate and assist the young people in fulfilling the programmes they enrol in.
Lastly, there are celebrity ambassadors who help raise awareness of the work that is done by the King's Trust in young people's lives. Celebrity ambassadors also involve themselves by visiting the young people during courses and programmes, host and help fundraising events and additionally start and support campaigns for the King's Trust. Current Celebrity Ambassadors include: Phil Collins, Gary Lineker, Jeremy Irons, Tom Hardy, Geri Halliwell, Benedict Cumberbatch, Justin Packshaw, Idris Elba, Gemma Arterton and Sharon Osbourne.
In 2017, the then Prince's Trust recruited Tom Fletcher and Giovanna Fletcher as the charity's first Digital Celebrity Ambassadors, following the great support they had given following their attendance at our Celebrate Success Awards.
In May 2023, Phillip Schofield was removed as an ambassador as the charity said it was "no longer appropriate" for it to work with the former television presenter due to his affair with a younger employee.

Subsidiaries

The trust has five charitable subsidiaries, each of which has its own board of trustees: King's Trust International, King's Trust Australia, King's Trust Canada, King's Trust New Zealand, and King's Trust America.
In 2019, the then Prince's Trust International also operated in Barbados, Greece, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Malta and Pakistan.
The trust also has one non-charitable subsidiary, King's Trust Trading Limited, which is responsible for the trust's commercial activities.

The King's Trust Group

The King's Trust Group's mission is to transform lives and build sustainable communities across the world. Together, the group of the then Prince's Trust charities supported around 90,000 people during 2019–20.
Established in 2018, the King's Trust Group includes the work of the King's Trust in the UK alongside a group of charities including: King's Trust International, King's Trust Australia, King's Trust New Zealand, King's Trust Canada and most recently King's Trust USA. Through the King's Trust Group young people are supported to access education, employment and self-employment in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Greece, India, Jordan, Malta, New Zealand and Pakistan. During 2019–20, the then Prince's Trust Group started supporting young people in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Malaysia. Similar projects were later launched in Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria.
The Aga Khan is the global founding patron of the King's Trust Group. American singer and songwriter, Lionel Richie, is the founding global ambassador of the Global Ambassador Group.

Finances

In 2009–10 the then Prince's Trust charity, and its trading subsidiary, Prince's Trust Trading Ltd, had a total income of nearly £36 million, and expenditure of £38 million. Facing the impact of the economic climate and a decline in funding it drew on its reserves, which stand at £22 million, representing roughly six months operating costs. The King's Trust is one of the 100 largest charities in the UK ranked by expenditure.

Income

Between 2006 and 2016, its work is reported to be worth an estimated £1.4 billion.

Generating income

Income from charitable activities

It is unclear how much money in total came from the European Union, as although some money is declared as coming directly, other money can be channelled indirectly through other organisations. Previously much of the EU money for the then Prince's Trust came from the European Social Fund and could only be spent to help young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training. Some of the ESF money went directly to the Prince's Trust, but mostly it went to the Learning and Skills Council who "doubled it up" with government money that then had the same restrictions placed on it. Some LSC money was given directly to the Prince's Trust but the majority went to the regional LSC offices who took out contracts with the regional Prince's Trust offices to provide services for unemployed young people. The ESF money was channelled through so many routes it is difficult to determine how much it amounted to, but in 2006 the funding provided by the LSC to the Prince's Trust in total came to approximately £11 million, although clearly these figures have decreased somewhat in recent years.
Fundraising events
The trust still has some fundraising events, including a Rock Gala that aired on 25 December 2010 on DirecTV. In 2012, the Prince's Trust was one of the main beneficiaries of Bob Finch and Michael Holland's Oil Aid.

Expenditure

The Prince's Trust expenditure of £38.2 million was made up of £30 million spent on charitable activities with the rest being spent on administration and other costs. The £30 million spent on charitable activities was divided between the different programme areas such as the Team programme and the Enterprise programme. £1.2 million went on grants to young people and institutions.

Charitable activities

The King's Trust has seven main types of charitable activity.
  • The Enterprise programme helps young people start a business.
  • The Team Programme is a 12-week personal development course, offering work experience, practical skills, community projects and a residential week.
  • Get antos are short courses offering training and experience in a specific sector to help young people get a job.
  • Get Starteds are short courses that give people the chance to take part in a week of activities to grow their confidence and skills.
  • Fairbridge offers a mix of group activities and one-to-one support for young people.
  • Development Awards are small monetary grants given to young people to help them get some training, education or a job.
  • Achieve clubs are held in schools, or through the Trust's centres for those outside of education.
  • Mosaic runs programmes in primary and secondary schools to link young people with role models to boost their confidence.