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