Our Organisation

Legal structure

The Croydon Almshouse Charities is a registered charity (Number 204963). It is run in accordance with a Scheme of the Charity Commission dated 1 October 2013.The Croydon Relief in Need Charities is also registered (Number 810114). It is administered and managed subject to and in conformity with the provisions of a Scheme dated 27 September 1974, as varied by a Scheme dated 11 January 1984 and 31 December 2015.

Over the centuries a number of charities that have been supporting people in Croydon, almost all of which are named after their original benefactors, have been absorbed into The Croydon Almshouse Charities and Croydon Relief in Need. They reflect the generosity of benefactors from many different walks of life throughout our history. They are listed below.

The Croydon Almshouse Charities

• The Overton Trust Fund
• The Almshouse of Charity of Janet Rutherford Adams
• The Almshouse Charity of Elis David
• Mary Tate's Almshouses
• The Croydon Charities of Henry Smith and Others, comprising:
• The Little Almshouse
• The Joan Price Charity
• The Archbishop Gryndall and Rowland Kilner
• The Lady Anne Allot Charity
• The John Blake Charity
• The Thomas Field Charity
• The John William Ebbutt Charity
• The Stockenden Estate Charity of Henry Smith
• The Deptford Estate Charity of Henry Smith

Croydon Relief in Need

• The Thomas Fewson Eagles Charity
• The Reverend East Apthorp DD Charity
• The John Henry Smith Charity
• The Joseph Williams Charity
• Wigsell’s Charity
• The Mary Allan Charity
• The John Piggott Charity
• The Daniel Thompson Brooke Charity
• The Hermitage Estate Charity
• The Charity of Mary Spering
• The Inkpen Eleemosenary Trust
• The Budgen Trust Fund

For further information see the Charity Commission website.

The charities are run by a Trust Corporation, The Croydon Almshouse Charities Trustee Company Limited, which was incorporated on 28 June 2013 (Company Number 8589455).

The charities’ properties and investments are held by the company, which through its Directors has overall responsibility for the management of the charities.

The Board

The Board of the Trust Corporation has overall responsibility for the way the charities are run. It may comprise up to 20 Directors.

One Director is nominated for a four-year term by the Mercers' Company of the City of London; two Directors are nominated for four-year terms by Croydon Council; and three serve in their capacities as the Vicar of Croydon and the Churchwardens of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St John the Baptist, Croydon.

There are currently 11 other co-opted Directors on the Board. They are appointed for five-year terms by the Board, and must be resident or work in the London Borough of Croydon or Ancient Parish of Mitcham or otherwise have special knowledge of those areas.

The Board operates through committees that oversee specific aspects of the charities' operations: finance and property, operational matters and staffing.