The Queen's Commonwealth Trust (QCT) is a charity that supports youths aged 18-35 across the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

. The charity's focus is on social entrepreneurs who have founded organisations to address problems in their communities.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, the charity's patron, was succeeded by

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

History and mission

The Queen's Commonwealth Trust, also known as QCT, was launched on 21 April 2018 (the Queen's 92nd birthday) with her patronage and her grandson

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to t ...

as president. After marriage, Harry's wife Meghan was appointed vice president later that year. The couple retained their positions until February 2021. In May 2024, King Charles III became the charity's patron. The QCT seeks to elevate the work of young people in their efforts for change and to equalise their efforts with professional organisations. The Trust operates as a network for young changemakers throughout the Commonwealth, to fund, connect, and platform discussions and projects on a local level. Periodically, online QCT chat sessions are conducted and uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for public viewing. In March 2019, The Queen's Trust gave QCT its final funds of £2,672,287 from a planned run-down. In 2021, model

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

became a global ambassador for QCT. In the financial year 2020/2021, QCT paid nearly all of its income on staff costs, £787,314 of the £796,106 it raised. The staff costs of its five senior executives was £420,000. The charity put this down the difficulties of raising donations during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The charity operated at a large deficit during the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years.

Projects

QCT finds and funds youths who are making a difference in their local communities. Projects and organisations supported by the Trust revolve around the issues of poverty, climate change, lack of access to healthcare, education and unemployment.

2019 OYW Partnership

In 2019, The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust partnered with One Young World (OYW) to offer QCT Scholarships to 53 leaders – one from every Commonwealth country – to attend the 2019 OYW Summit in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, UK from 22–25 October. One Young World is a preeminent global forum for young adults who have demonstrated a commitment to affecting positive change. The organisation received over 5,000 applications, out of which 53 were selected. The following list contains the 2019 QCTxOYW scholarship winners from the first cohort:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen's Commonwealth Trust, The Organizations established in 2018 Charities based in London