The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) has hit out at culture war attacks on the good causes it funds that seek to tackle injustice and conflict.

The concerns have been raised as the funder publishes a position statement that vows to continue supporting its grantees in the face of such criticism.

“We wish to reiterate our continued commitment to all of our grantees at a time when many of the important causes we stand behind have been weaponised for political gain, are accused of polarising public opinion, and when many funders and donors can feel pressurised to choose ‘safer’ causes,” said its interim chief executive Helen Moulinos.

“Our grantees prioritise systemic change work because there are serious and complex problems to fix in our society and we want them wholeheartedly to succeed.”

The funder’s statement says it will not be influenced “by a culture of fear or allowing the fear or scrutiny and stigma of wider society to cloud our judgements about who we support with grant making”.

It also reiterates that its funding will continue to support good causes looking to bring about long-term systemic change that often is “challenging the status quo or pursuing redress and justice for marginalised and/or silenced communities”.

“Given the often-unintended downside of driving change – we will not waver in the face of adversity, become fragile amidst criticism, or allow ourselves to be pressured into not standing by a grantee we believe in,” the statement adds.

It also reiterates its focus on tackling its own “colonial and capitalist history” pledging to not assume “a position of moral superiority as a grant-maker”.

"We reiterate our continued commitment to all of our grantees and offer reassurance that we will stand with them."

Our interim CEO, Helen Moulinos, has written a statement of solidarity with those we fund.

You can read it here: https://t.co/d8bQLbTOI0 pic.twitter.com/9YsMB2JMNg

— Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (@jrct_uk) July 29, 2024

The JRCT, whose grant expenditure was around £20m last year, is the latest organisation within the charity sector to raise concerns about good causes being weaponised.

Earlier this year Charity Commission chair Orlando Fraser warned politicians, the media and "indeed the sector itself” against allowing the regulator to be “misused or weaponised”.

Ahead of this year’s general election NCVO warned charities about increased attention paid to their work “as some politicians and media seek to engage in manufactured culture wars”.

While in opposition earlier this year Prime Minister Keir Starmer also raised concerns against culture wars attacks on the sector, including criticism of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution by right wing politicians.

In a speech in January he accused the Conservative Party in particular of getting “themselves so tangled up in culture wars of their own making, that instead of working with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, an organisation the late Queen was patron of for 70 years, to find real solutions to stop the small boats. Their rhetoric has helped demonise them”.

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