Second £500,000 grant to Shannon Trust for the next three years
The Julia Rausing Trust is delighted to announce another £500,000 donation to Shannon Trust, following an initial £500,000 donation at the beginning of 2022. This donation is the second in a series of upcoming literacy focused grants by The Julia Rausing Trust in 2025.
The Shannon Trust is a registered charity that works across all prisons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to train and inspire people in prison who can read and do numeracy to teach those who can’t.
This £500,000 donation will support Shannon Trust’s work for a further three years, helping increase the reach and accessibility of its peer-led programmes even more. This includes making digital versions of its programmes widely accessible, enabling Shannon Trust to branch out even further into communities and maximise its reach across the prison population.
Following the initial donation in 2022, Shannon Trust has been able to significantly grow its reach and impact, developing its learning programmes and resources, improving its reporting and data capabilities, and building strategic partnerships in community spaces to support people leaving prison in continuing their learning.
In 2024 alone, over 11,000 learners engaged with Shannon Trust’s programmes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and it was able to train over 2000 new mentors.
Commenting on the grant, Daniel Chapman, Head of Grants at The Julia Rausing Trust, said: “We are pleased to renew our support to the Shannon Trust. By empowering individuals with essential skills such as reading and writing, we are helping to create stronger pathways to rehabilitation. Today’s grant builds on Julia’s previous support and will extend these vital opportunities to even more people, fostering hope and positive change in their lives.”
Chris Morgan, Director of Business Support at Shannon Trust, said: “It has been so impactful working with The Julia Rausing Trust. Their generous funding has enabled us to transform the lives of many more people in need of support with reading and other basic skills.
“Thanks to the generous support from organisations like The Julia Rausing Trust, we are able to continue making a real difference to people in prison, their families and the wider community,”
The Julia Rausing Trust was established in memory of the late British philanthropist Julia Rausing, (née Delves-Broughton), who died in 2024.
Photo credit: Andy Aitchison
3rd July 2025