The Second Quothquan Charitable Trust
Charity 273229
Overview
Summary
The Second Quothquan Charitable Trust appears to function less as a public-facing service charity than as a flexible charitable vehicle supporting a connected group of charities through administration, property and grant-making. Its recent receipt of a significant gift, largely designated for property acquisition, suggests a potentially important shift toward holding or expanding physical assets. The organisation’s religious classification may shape its network and purposes, but the available evidence does not show how this operates in practice.
Operational geography
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Sutton Four Oaks
Confidence: medium
The Trust’s 2024 trustees’ report identifies its principal office, providing evidence of an administrative base. However, a principal-office address alone does not establish operational activity in Sutton Four Oaks or that this is a public-facing service site or the location of its rented homes.
- Charity Commission, The Second Quothquan Charitable Trust annual report and accounts for year ended 31 December 2024
The report states that the Trust has a principal office. - Charity Commission Register of Charities, The Second Quothquan Charitable Trust (charity 273229)
The register provides a contact address for the Trust.
Remaining uncertainties
- The Charity Commission records Birmingham City as the area where the Trust operates, supporting a citywide overall footprint, but they do not identify the Birmingham neighbourhoods in which its housing, administration support or other services are delivered.
- The Trust’s current activity is principally administrative support for related charities and the management of rented social housing, rather than direct grant-making: the related Quothquan Trust website says that The Second Quothquan Charitable Trust is no longer grant making.
- The 2024 accounts confirm that the Trust provides bookkeeping and administration to Harvest Fields Homes, Quothquan Homes and The Alfred Haines Charitable Trust, and undertakes rent collection and tenant liaison. However, the available evidence does not locate the properties, tenants, or partner organisations’ delivery sites by Birmingham ward.
- Earlier accounts describe two apartments and a cottage used as rented social housing, but no current property addresses are published. Their locations should not be inferred or disclosed from incomplete evidence.
- The Trust owns or leases land or property and received funds designated largely for property acquisition, but the locations and current operational use of those assets are not identified in the available public record.
Additional evidence needed
- The full 2024 trustees’ report or a current property schedule identifying the wards in which the Trust’s rented social-housing properties are located, subject to appropriate tenant privacy safeguards.
- A current statement from the Trust identifying which related charities receive its administration services and where those services are delivered.
- Current annual reports or official service-location information from Harvest Fields Homes and Quothquan Homes that establish whether, and in which Birmingham wards, the Trust’s support materially enables housing delivery.
- Confirmation from the Trust whether its principal office is an active administrative workplace or solely a correspondence address.
Areas of work
- Religious Activities
Who they help
- Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
How they help
- Makes Grants To Organisations
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
- Provides Services
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A flexible vehicle within a charitable network
The Trust appears to be structured to support other charities rather than directly defined beneficiary groups. Its broad objects and continuing administrative role may indicate that it operates as shared infrastructure for related organisations.
Why it matters
This helps distinguish the Trust from a conventional frontline charity. Its influence may lie in enabling the work, governance or capacity of several organisations, making its relationships more important than its own direct delivery profile.
Show evidence
“To such charities or for such charitable purposes and in such proportions and in such manner and subject to such terms and conditions as the settlor may from time to time by a like notice direct.”
Source:Charity Commission“In addition to continuing to provide administration services to related charities.”
Source:Organisation“Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies.”
Source:Charity Commission
Property may be becoming a strategic asset
A significant designated gift for property acquisition may signal a move from maintaining existing rented social housing toward expanding, consolidating or repurposing property assets.
Why it matters
Property can create long-term capacity and influence. Understanding whether acquisition supports housing, charitable facilities or investment income would materially change how the Trust’s future role is understood.
Show evidence
“It has received a significant gift the larger part of which has designated towards property acquisition.”
Source:Organisation“It continues to provide rented social housing.”
Source:Organisation“Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space.”
Source:Charity Commission
An unusually broad mandate may create both adaptability and opacity
The Trust’s objects allow resources to be directed among charities and charitable purposes according to the settlor’s directions. This may enable responsiveness, but leaves its practical priorities difficult to infer from stated objects alone.
Why it matters
The organisation’s strategy may be determined more by relationships, donor intent and current opportunities than by a fixed public mission. This makes governance and decision-making evidence especially valuable.
Show evidence
“To such charities or for such charitable purposes and in such proportions and in such manner and subject to such terms and conditions as the settlor may from time to time by a like notice direct.”
Source:Charity Commission“Makes Grants To Organisations.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Which related charities receive administration services, grants or property support.
- Whether property acquisition will expand social housing, create charitable facilities or generate income.
- How religious activities shape funding decisions, partnerships and beneficiaries.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports and accounts showing grants, property holdings, related-party transactions and designated-fund use.
- Information on the organisations supported, governance arrangements and the intended purpose of planned property acquisition.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
In addition to continuing to provide administration services to related charities and rented social housing, it has received a significant gift the larger part of which has designated towards property acquisition.
Charity objects
TO SUCH CHARITIES OR FOR SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSES AND IN SUCH PROPORTIONS AND IN SUCH MANNER AND SUBJECT TO SUCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS THE SETTLOR MAY FROM TIME TO TIME BY A LIKE NOTICE DIRECT.