Sir, No organisation should be above reproach or regulation but, as other funders, charities, non-government organisations and concerned individuals, we affirm the right of charities and foundations to freely pursue their objectives within the law. In doing so, we express our support for the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, which has come under regulatory pressure and media attack recently (The Times, Charities withdraw support for Cage, March 7).
The trust has a long and distinguished record of support for important civil society work. It has funded work that has made vital contributions to the Northern Ireland peace process, the transition to democracy in South Africa, and to furthering rights and justice, corporate accountability and democratic reform. At times its work has been risky or controversial, but in our experience it has always acted with the greatest integrity.
Lord Alderdice
Clare Algar, CEO, Reprieve
Lord Des Browne of Ladyton
Prof Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Author, columnist and academic
Robin Allen, QC, Head of Chambers, Cloisters
Alan Anstead, Coordinator, UK Race and Europe Network
Amanda Ariss, Chief Executive, Equality and Diversity Forum
Michael Attenborough CBE
David Atwood
Jennifer Barraclough, Clerk of Trustees, Britain Yearly Meeting (Quakers)
Robert Barrington, Executive Director, Transparency International UK
Robert L Barry, US Ambassador (Ret’d)
Moritz Bartl, Executive Director, Renewable Freedom Foundation
Susi Bascon, Director, Peace Brigades International UK Section
Maggie Baxter OBE
General Sir Hugh Beach, GBE KCB MC, President, VERTIC
Richard Bickle, Chairman of Trustees, Fellowship of Reconciliation (England)
Prof Robert Blackburn*, King’s College London
Sir Christopher Bland, former chairman, BBC
Alexandra Bosbeer, Representative and Head of Office, Quaker Council for European Affairs
Sir Nicolas Bratza, Chairman of Trustees, British Institute of Human Rights
Prof Philip Brown*, University of Salford
Prof Tom Burke, Founding Director, E3G
Andy Carl, Executive Director, Conciliation Resources
Carla Carnelas, Co-Director, Children’s Rights Alliance for England
Candia Carolan, Chair, HT and LB Cadbury Charitable Trust
David Carrington
Lynn Carvill, Reclaim the Agenda
John Christensen, Executive Director, Tax Justice Network
Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Director, Jubilee Debt Campaign
Sarah Cooke OBE
Frances Crook, Chief Executive, Howard League for Penal Reform
Jeremy Crook OBE, Black Training and Enterprise Group
Marilyn Croser, Director, CORE Coalition
Niall Crowley, Claiming Our Future
C.J. Day, Chair of Directors, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust
Rt Revd Michael Doe, Chair, Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility
Dr Paul Dorfman*, The Energy Institute, University College London
Dr John Downer*, University of Bristol
Mary Dowson, Director, Bradford Community Broadcasting
Lindsay Duncan
Judy El Bushra, Consultant
David Elliott*, Emeritus Professor, Open University
Fiona Ellis, Trust Manager, Millford House Foundation
Dr Scilla Elworthy
Duncan Exley, Executive Director, Equality Trust
Dr Ben Fairweather*, Senior Research Fellow, De Montfort University
Seamus Farrell, Towards Understanding and Healing
Liz Fekete, Director, Institute of Race Relations
Dr Simon Fisher*, Oxford Brookes University
Don Flynn, Director, Migrants Rights Network
Bridget Foreman, Associate Director, Riding Lights Theatre Company
Dr Diana Francis, Consultant
Maurice Frankel, Director, Campaign for Freedom of Information
Norman Franklin, Jill Franklin Trust
Doru Franscescu, Director, VoteWatch
Richard Garside, Director, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
David Gee, Author
Dr Scherto Gill, Executive Secretary, Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace
Pete Gill, Chair of Trustees, Omega Research Foundation
Bana Gora, CEO, Muslim Women’s Council
Brian Gormally, Director, Committee on the Administration of Justice
John D Gray, Consultant
Prof Paul Gready*, Director, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York
Andy Gregg, Chief Executive, Race on the Agenda
Nick Grono, CEO, The Freedom Fund
Dr Sara Hageman*, European Institute, London School of Economics
Prof Brandon Hamber*, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Ulster University
Jatin Haria, Executive Director, Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights
Caroline Hartnell, Editor, Alliance Magazine
Brian Harvey, Consultant
Richard Hawkins, Director, Public Interest Research Centre
Carolyn Hayman, Trustee, Margaret Hayman Charitable Trust
John R Healy, former President & Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Philanthropies
Maureen Hetherington, Co-ordinator, The Junction
Prof Simon Hix*, London School of Economics
Edward Hoare, Edward Hoare Impact Fund
Catherine Howarth, Chief Executive, ShareAction
Thomas Hughes, Executive Director, Article 19
Dilwar Hussain, Chair of Trustees, New Horizons in British Islam
Michael Hutchinson, Clerk of Trustees, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre
Justine Huxley, Director, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace
Conor Ibrahiem, Artistic Director, Arakan Creative
Prof Doc Hans Joachim Giessmann, Executive Director, Berghof Foundation
Chris Johnson, Chair of Trustees, North of England Activities and Training
Clive Jones CBE, Chair of Trustees, Runnymede Trust
Dr Stefanie Kappler*, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Director of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies
Dr Ian Kearns*, Co-Founder and Director, European Leadership Network
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws
Nicolas Kent, Theatre Director
Dr Ed Kessler, Founding Director, Woolf Institute
Dr Omar Khan, Director, Runnymede Trust
Peter Kilgarriff, Swan Mountain Charitable Trust
Louise King, Co-Director, Children’s Rights Alliance for England
Lord Kinnock
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead
Lesley-Anne Knight, CEO, The Elders
Ratna Lachman, Director, JUST West Yorkshire
Christina Lamb OBE, Foreign Correspondent, Sunday Times
David Lan, The Young Vic Company
Karen Lewis-Attenborough
Sara Llewellin, Chief Executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust
Davorka Lovrekovic, President, International Fellowship of Reconcialliation
Dr David Lowry, Independent Environmental Research Consultant
Joanna Lumley
Jehangir Malik OBE, Director, Islamic Relief UK
Roger and Ania Manser, Kestrelman Trust
Chris Marks, Trustee, CJM Charitable Trust
Caroline Mason, Chief Executive, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Dylan Mathews, Chief Executive, Peace Direct
Gerri McAndrew, Chief Executive, Buttle UK for Children and Young People
Rosamund McCarthy, Partner, Bates Wells and Braithwaite
Jen McClelland, Appletree Fund
Andrew McCracken, Chief Executive, Community Foundation for Northern Ireland
Janette McKnight, Director, Quaker Service, Belfast
Oliver McTernan, Director, Forward Thinking
Bharat Mehta OBE, Chief Executive, Trust for London
Prof Ian Miles*, Professor of Technological Innovation and Social Change, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research
Dr Laura Miller, Executive Director, Synchronicity Earth
Prof David Miller*, University of Bath
Christopher Mitchell*, Emeritus Professor of Conflict Research, George Mason University
Emma Mlotshwa, Coordinator, Medical Justice
Gay Moon, Special Legal Adviser, Equality and Diversity Forum
Judith Moran, Director, Quaker Social Action
Dr Duncan Morrow*, University of Ulster
Gemma Mortensen, Executive Director, Crisis Action
Fiyaz Mughal OBE, Founder and Director, Faith Matters
Rachel Mullen, Coordinator, The Equality and Rights Alliance
Alys Mumford, Campaign Director, Jubilee Scotland
Paul Murphy, Executive Director, Saferworld
Joe Murray, Action from Ireland
Patrick Mutzenberg, Centre for Civil and Political Rights
Michael Norton, Director, Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action
Richard Norton-Taylor, Journalist
Orla O’Connor, Director, National Women’s Council of Ireland
Christopher G. Oechsli, President & CEO, Atlantic Philanthropies
Monina O’Prey, Community Development Activist,
Baron Herman Ouseley, Chair of Trustees, Chandran Foundation
Paul Parker, Recording Clerk, Britain Yearly Meeting (Quakers)
Peter Pelz, Director, Soul of Europe
Liz Philipson, Consultant
Tim Pigott-Smith
Emma Playfair, Chair of Trustees, Alexandria Trust
Jonathon Porritt, Founder, Director and Trustee, Forum for the Future
Bishop Peter Price, Chair of Trustees, Conciliation Resources
Habib Rahman, Chief Executive, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)
Prof Oliver Ramsbotham*, University of Bradford
Vanessa Redgrave
Revd Donald Reeves MBE, Director, Soul of Europe
Andrew Rigby*, Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies, Coventry University
Dr Nick Ritchie*, Lecturer (International Security), University of York
Prof Gillian Robinson*, Ulster University
Allison Rogers, Chair of Trustees, West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project
Roger Ross, Trustee, Serve All Trust
Carne Ross, Executive Director, Independent Diplomat
Albie Sachs, former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa,
Gerry Salole, Chief Executive, European Foundation Centre
Natalie Samarasinghe, Executive Director, United Nations Association UK
Philip Sanders, Chair of Trustees, Philamonic Trust
Christine Shepherd, Chief Officer, York Travellers Trust
Sarah Shoraka, Platform
Elizabeth Sigmund*, Environmental campaigner
Paddy Sloan, former co-optee JRCT Ireland Committee, former Deputy Chair, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
Caroline Slocock, Director, Civil Exchange
Gillian Slovo
Dan Smith, Secretary General, International Alert
Matthew Spencer, Director, Green Alliance
Sarah Spencer CBE
Siobhan Spencer MBE, National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups
Prof Andy Stirling*, University of Sussex
Janet Susman DBE
Luc Tayat De Borms, Managing Director, King Baudoin Foundation
Steve Thomas*, Professor of Energy Policy, University of Greenwich
Khatuna Tsintsadze, Project Manager, Zahid Mubarek Trust
Kate Turner, Director, Healing Through Remembering
Tony Venables, Founder, Foundation on European Citizenship
Natasha Walter, Women for Refugee Women
Lee Waters, Director, Institute of Welsh Affairs
Baroness Janet Whitaker
Rob Williamson, Chief Executive, Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland
Carolyne Willow, Author
Maurice Wren, Chief Executive, Refugee Council
Yasmine Ahmed, Director, Rights Watch (UK)
Kerim Yildiz, CEO, Democratic Progress Institute
Farook Yunus, Kumon Y’All
Alliance for Choice Northern Ireland
Discrimination Law Association
Migrant Voice
Northern Ireland Anti Poverty Network
Oak Foundation
*signed in personal capacity
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