The Prince's Trust () is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. Many of the young people helped by the trust face issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, or trouble with the law.
It runs a range of training programmes, providing practical and financial support to build young people's confidence and motivation. Each year they work with about 60,000 young people, with three in four moving on to employment, education, volunteering, or training.
In 1999, the numerous trust charities were brought together as the Prince's Trust and acknowledged by Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace where she granted it a royal charter. The following year it devolved in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and other English regions but overall control remained in London. The Prince's Trust fundraising and campaign events are often hosted by and feature entertainers from around the world. In April 2011 the youth charity Fairbridge became part of the trust; this led to the Trust being liable for compensation to survivors sent as children to parts of the British Empire by Fairbridge and subjected to abuse, starting in 1909. In 2015, Prince's Trust International was launched to collaborate with other charities and organisations in other countries (mostly Commonwealth nations) to help young people in those countries. The Prince's Trust is one of the most successful funding organisations in the UK and is the UK's leading youth charity, having helped over 1,000,000 young people turn their lives around, created 125,000 entrepreneurs, and given business support to 395,000 people in the UK. From 2006 to 2016, its work for the youth has been worth an estimated £1.4 billion.
In 2019, the Prince's Trust signed a partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care to support 10,000 young people (16-to-30-year-olds) into health and social care jobs. This initiative aims to future-proof the sector, provide employment opportunities to young people, and support the department's "widening participation" goals, increasing the diversity of its workforce.
Purpose
The trust has its primary objective defined in its royal charter as follows:
Target groups
The Prince's Trust aims to work with young people aged 11 to 30. The goal is to assist them in moving into work, education, or training.
Governance
Charles III founded The Prince's Trust and is now its president, a figurehead position with no legal responsibility. The Prince's Trust Council are the trustees of the charity and are legally responsible for management, administration and deciding policy.
John Booth was announced as the chairman of The Prince's Trust Council in July 2018 and Sir Lloyd Dorfman CBE, who previously held this position, became the chairman of Prince's Trust International.
Nick Stace, the former chief executive of The Trust, joined in October 2017, replacing Dame Martina Milburn DCVO CBE who was a member of the board and group chief executive for The Prince's Trust. At the end of 2019, Jonathan Townsend took over as interim CEO – a position made permanent in spring 2020.
Staff
In 2019 the Prince's Trust employed 1241 people, including 1106 people who worked in charitable purposes and support, and 235 in fundraising. The cost of employing these staff is £38 million a year and is the organisation's single biggest expenditure.
Martina Milburn, former chief executive of the Prince's Trust Group (covering the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States and International), who joined The Trust in 2004 and was appointed group chief executive in 2017, stepped down from this role in September 2022. Previously she worked as the chief executive of BBC Children in Need.
Jonathan Townsend was formally appointed chief executive officer of Prince's Trust UK in April 2020, following an interim period. He was previously the CEO of Prince's Trust International.
Will Straw CBE was appointed chief executive officer of Prince's Trust International in summer 2020.
Ambassadors
The Prince's Trust consist of different kinds of Ambassadors:
The first are young ambassadors, these are young leaders who are volunteers and support the Prince's Trust in different ways including motivating other young people and winning contributors and the media about the work the Prince's Trust do.