Julia Rausing Trust donates £5mn to One Small Thing
Howard Lake | 28 March 2025 | News
One Small Thing, the charity that aims to redesign the justice system for women and their children, has received a £5 million grant from the Julia Rausing Trust.
This is the single largest donation ever received by the charity, and follows previous grants from the trust in 2019 and 2022.
The grant will fund operations of the organisation’s Hope Street project in Hampshire, a pilot residential alternative to custody for women and their children. It will also enable the charity explore avenues to replicate the model in other areas of England and Wales.
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One Small Thing
The charity was set up in 2014 by prison philanthropist Lady Edwina Grosvenor in response to unacceptable levels of suicide and self-harm across women’s prisons in England, and feedback from prison staff who wanted to understand better and respond to the underlying trauma behind this.
Hope Street was co-designed in consultation with partners from across the justice system, community partners and women with lived experience. The first purpose-built, county-wide residential network specifically designed for women, it prevents women’s unnecessary imprisonment and maternal separation. Children can stay with their mothers in a safe environment with tailored and ongoing support.
Claire Hubberstey, CEO, One Small Thing, paid tribute to Julia Rausing, who died last year, for her recognition that women caught up in the criminal justice system face specific challenges. She said:
“None of our achievements to date would have been possible without the invaluable support of Julia Rausing and her husband Hans. Her support has already delivered a huge impact in helping us to achieve our core aims of reducing women’s imprisonment and preventing maternal separation. We are now in a position to scale our work and deliver much needed change. We are delighted that the Julia Rausing Trust, set up in her name, continues to believe that our work can create transformational change for women in contact with the justice system”.
Simon Fourmy, Director of the Julia Rausing Trust, which supports charitable organisations and initiatives working across the UK’s health, education, arts and heritage sectors, added:
“Julia Rausing… saw the importance of One Small Thing’s aim of preventing the unnecessary imprisonment of women and resulting separation from their children. The Hope Street residential project shows that there is another way, providing a safe alternative to prison where women can recover from trauma and maintain familial relationships. Today’s grant builds on Julia’s previous support and will underpin Hope Street over the coming years as the charity seeks to scale their work and deliver change across the country.”
- Rausing trusts to combine into the Julia Rausing Trust (9 October 2024)
- Rausings donate £2 million to UK disability charities (26 July 2023)
- Julia and Hans Rausing launch £10 million charity survival fund (7 July 2020)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.