ABOUT US

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John Humphrys, founder of the Trust

 2023 UPDATE LETTER from John to supporters
 Watch John tell us more about the charity


The best way to help us, is to make a donation.


(Please remember that, if you pay UK tax, Gift Aid can add a further 25p for every £1 you donate to the charity.)

 Click here for other ways to donate.


Thank you for visiting The Kitchen Table Charities Trust Web site.

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with the Trust and what we do. I hope that you are inspired by our work, and are able to make a contribution to support us.

There are a vast number of small charities all over the world who do a wonderful job. You've probably never even heard of them. They don't have swanky offices or air-conditioned Land Rovers or money to spend on expensive advertising. Every penny goes to people in need. But they struggle to survive because they simply can't afford their own fund-raising operations.

I have spent many years working in third world countries, mostly in Africa, and have been hugely impressed by what they do. I have also noticed over the years that many people would like to help these "kitchen table" charities but they're not sure how to go about it. When I wrote about this for newspapers, I had letters from thousands of people offering help. That's why I set up the Kitchen Table Charities Trust.

The money we raise is fed directly to the smallest charities. We choose those whose work we can assess and monitor. I have either seen them myself or know someone who has and can offer an independent assessment.

Many of them work with children, often orphans whose parents might have died from Aids and end up on the streets of big cities. Without help they might turn to crime or prostitution and face an early death from dreadful diseases. Another charity helps polio victims who are forced to beg for a living. They train them to make marvellous metal sculptures from old junk. Other charities make small loans to widows who use the money to set up little businesses. Another teaches skills such as carpentry to young boys. Another runs a cancer hospice. A small hospital restores the sight of people with cataracts.

The one thing they have in common is that whatever money they have is spent in the local area on the people most in need. That not only helps the most vulnerable but, in the longer term, helps the country to stand on its own feet. If a child is educated or taught a skill or has his or her sight restored, they can help others in return.

We at the KTCT think this is what matters. We are not interested in charity as a big business. We believe that charity is about individuals helping other individuals with the minimum of bureaucracy and needless expense. That is why we exist.

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EVERY PENNY COUNTS



"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Those words are as true today as they were when the great philosopher Lao Tzu wrote them millennia ago. Many small charities have taken them to heart and operate on that basis. They believe in helping people to help themselves. That's one reason why the Trust supports them. The other reason is that these small charities make a relatively small amount of money go a very long way.


How does your support help?

£1,200

To renovate an out-of-order well, and replace a broken hand pump with a solar pump - to the benefit of 3000 people and 790 primary school pupils in Uganda.


That's 32 pence per person to give them clean water for years to come!

£2,200

To buy simple hand tools, fertiliser, pesticide and herbicide - as part of a 5 year plan to train and support unemployed youths in 7 deprived rural communities in Malawi.


Help people to work and they help support their families.

£3,500

To repair a severely storm-damaged primary school in The Gambia, originally built with a grant from KTCT.


Not much, to keep a school delivering kids a valuable education!

£4,500

To buy locally made classroom furniture for a primary school in Kenya where pupils carry stools from their homes each day, or sit on the bare concrete floor.


Win Win, support local jobs and improve the learning environment for the children.

£6,000

To train 120 Traditional Birth Attendants (midwives) in obstetric care skills, to reduce the high level of mother and child morbidity and mortality in Uganda.


Giving children the gift of life!

£6,200

To establish a bakery and cafe in Uganda - to generate income for educational support for vulnerable young people, including the disabled, and give them practical skills.


Creating the heart of a community..

Pretty good value for money eh?

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