THE W H SMITH GROUP CHARITABLE TRUST

Grants of up to £1,000 are available to UK registered charities for literacy projects in UK communities where the retailer W H Smith has a presence.
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o Application deadline: none – applications may be made at any time, initially by contacting the Trust to discuss the project in question.
o Funder: The W H Smith Group Charitable Trust (founded 1992. Charity number 1013782. Total value of all grants awarded in the year ended 31 December 2022: £168,983 (2021: £90,441)).
o Who can apply:  UK registered charities and schools where a W H Smith employee has a direct involvement.
o Key words:  Literacy, Schools, United Kingdom.
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W H Smith PLC, trading as WHSmith, is a British retailer with its headquarters in Swindon, England. The company is well known for operating a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, entertainment products and confectionery.

The W H Smith Group Charitable Trust is a grant-making charity that is independent from W H Smith PLC. The Trust supports the following priorities in communities in which W H Smith has a presence (a store locator can be found on the W H Smith website):

1. Employee nominated charities, schools and other good causes by matching money from staff fundraising and time spent volunteering.
2. Large scale literacy projects, currently through a long-standing partnership with the National Literacy Trust, and
3. Local schools through donations to fund books and other literacy resources.

A major part of the Trust’s funding goes towards projects to promote literacy. The Trust states that “research findings show that children who read for pleasure have significantly better life chances than those who don’t and promoting the love of reading is the principal objective of our literacy programmes”.

Grants of £1,000 are available. Larger grants are occasionally awarded.

During the year ended 31st December 2022, the Trust awarded grants totalling £168,983 (2021: £90,441).

All grants of £1,000 or more are listed on page 9 of the Trust’s annual accounts.

Funding is not available for:

o Advertising.
o Disaster relief.
o Expeditions/Overseas Travel.
o Individuals.
o Military organisations.
o Overseas projects.
o Party political causes, or
o Religious agencies.

Charities interested in applying should contact the Trust using the contact details provided below in the first instance.

The Trust can be contacted at any time. Further information is available on the Trust’s website.