Who we are and our aims

The Kent Charities Group is a unique group of carefully selected, diverse, independent registered charities, all based in Kent and committed to improving the quality of life for residents throughout the county, through their individual causes. Whilst retaining their individual identities and diverse work, the Kent Charities Group epitomises the true ethos of partnership working.

We all rely solely on donations from the public to carry out our work so your interest and support is a vitally important way of helping local Kent Charities do what they do best across the county.

To make contact with Kent Charities group please email: L.Clayton@hikent.org.uk

Read below to find out about our work, then please consider how YOU could help us..

Kent Youth and Kent Council for Voluntary Youth Services (KCVYS) joined together in 2012 to form Young Kent. We strive to be the leading youth work organisation in the county. Young Kent offers essential support services to youth organisations of all sizes. Our staff team engage with our members, as well as young people through our face to face programmes. We represent the best interests of our membership organisations. We recognise the achievements of youth organisations and young people in Kent and Medway and take pride in celebrating their successes. We are committed to helping young people reach their full potential.

Kent Peoples Trust is a grant making charity dedicated to Crime Prevention, Substance Abuse Education and Victims of Crime Support in Kent. The Trust has made over £500 000 in donations or grants to projects and community groups to help make Kent a Safer Place. It is supported by a number of Corporate organisations, individuals and civil sector members. The Trustees and Board members meet every quartet to allocate funds. Application forms can be obtained from the office at Kent Police Headquarters Sutton Road Maidstone ME15 9BZ  or via email from kentpeoplestrust@kent.pnn.police.uk  

The Director of the Trust has, since the founding of the Kent Charities Group, been involved in the ideals and actions of the Kent Charities Group as a further commitment to the communities of Kent.      

The Kent Peoples Trust supports a number of "Handy Van" Schemes that offer a safe and reliable service to vulnerable people who need to improve the security and safety of their homes.   The Vans are staffed by skilled and vetted  workman who fit fire alarms, door locks and other security equipment. In many cases we work with our partners to ensure that the equipment is of the highest standard and that we reach as many of the homes as possible.

Hi Kent is the county of Kent’s deaf and hard of hearing registered charity, established in 1986, providing ‘Sound support for deaf and hard of hearing people’.

One person in every seven is deaf or hard of hearing, and in Kent there are around a quarter of a million such people who need our help. From our Resource Centres in Maidstone, Canterbury and Medway, and through our countywide network of hearing aid aftercare clinics, we manage to help more people every year. We depend on our team of dedicated unpaid volunteers for our charitable activities.

In 2007 Hi Kent was the only Kent voluntary organisation to receive the Queen’s Award For Voluntary Service.

Hi Kent provides information, assessment and provision of equipment to deafened and hard of hearing people, to help overcome the social isolation that deafness can cause, including:

• Specialist information and advice
•Assessment and provision of equipment to persons aged 65 and over to help them in their daily lives
•Resource Centres to view equipment

Hi Kent runs free local Lipreading Classes throughout the county, and also provides Deaf Awareness Training and British Sign Language Courses.

Hi Kent makes a very real difference to the lives of deaf and hard of hearing people throughout the county, and currently helps over 65,000 people each year.

The Kenward Trust offers hope for those who are serious about wanting to recover from drug and alcohol abuse and work towards a new life - free from their addiction. At our residential rehabilitation and community recovery centres, caring, professional staffs work closely with residents to restore self-confidence, dignity and other life skills needed to equip them to live productive independent lives once more.

Born of addictive parents and raised in an addictive household, “Simon” was a heroin addict and alcohol dependant at the age of 13 years old. Living a chaotic lifestyle, “Simon” struggled with his addiction for thirty years until he could stand no more and sought help with the Kenward Trust, where he spent almost four years rebuilding his life. Completely drug and alcohol free, “Simon” is now a fully qualified addiction counsellor and is helping others needing help with their own addictive ways, to find a “new life from addiction”. It is a sad fact that one in every fifteen people throughout the UK, suffer from alcohol or other drug addiction!!

Wildlife Heritage Foundation is a specialist conservation charity based in Kent, UK. The Foundation has three key aims:

• To run a big cat breeding centre of excellence using stock made available by the European Endangered Species Programmes (EEP).
• To work with zoo and NGO partners internationally to protect carnivore species and the environment in which they live.
• To educate members and visitors to our sanctuary on the issues surrounding the protection and preservation of the species that we work with.

WHF is the UK’s largest specialist big cat breeding centre, we have successfully bred Sumatran tiger and Amur leopard two of the worlds rarest predators. In 2010 we will increase our facilities to enable us to hold a second breeding pair of Amur leopards, native to Far East of Russia only 35 of these animals survive in the wild.

The focus of Diversity House is in representing the interests of minority communities living in Swale and across Kent, by helping them gain access to adequate health and social care services, education, and other services which otherwise would pass them by. In doing this work, Diversity House believes in the inclusion rather than exclusion of all individuals residing in the Swale and Kent regardless of their colour, age, gender, religion and other, in order to achieve a high level of equality, social integration and cohesion for all.

In order to achieve its vision, Diversity House provides services such as advice, information, advocacy and guidance on access to health and social care services; cultural proficiency training; drop-in centre; youth club; outreach services; and activities that promotes intercultural dialogue.

The Blackthorn Trust is an established charity which offers medical care, specialist therapies and rehabilitation through work and community within Blackthorn Garden, our developing social enterprise. We offer help to individuals with continuing mental health problems, chronic physical health difficulties (in particular those with chronic pain) and/or learning disabilities. Through specialist therapies, work placements and community, we assist people who face the enormous challenge of a chronic or continuing condition to find their potential in life, optimising their ability to work and integrate into the wider community, with all the individual, social and economic benefits this brings.

We are one of the foremost charities supporting vulnerable and homeless people in Kent and Medway. We have supported accommodation services in Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Margate, Ramsgate and Tonbridge, a homelessness prevention service and a dedicated rough sleeper team. We provide a range of services supporting people with complex needs, with specialist services for young people, ex-offenders and people with enduring mental health issues.

The Dandelion Trust is a registered charity that supports the arts, helps people in traumatic situations and conserves green spaces and beautiful buildings.

The Trust seeks innovative projects that foster the best in human nature. Often unconventional in our approach, we strive to encourage imaginative solutions while maintaining a broad vision that encompasses:

- Opportunities for growth, resolution, care and creativity through the arts
- Preservation of historic buildings to provide creative spaces for healing and growth
- Conservation and support for the natural environment