The Henry Smith Foundation

The Henry Smith Foundation is sponsored by The Henry Smith Foundation. Supports organizations addressing social exclusion and adversity, including homelessness, across the UK.

Kindred Grants and support for Henry Smith’s descendants When Henry Smith died in 1628, his Will included a legacy to help members of his family (his “Kindred”) in financial need. Henry had no children, so by Kindred, he meant the descendants of his sister, Joane. Nearly 400 years later, that commitment still stands.

Today, more than 4,500 people are registered as Kindred. In 2025, we awarded 484 grants, providing support to 226 people. We offer a range of help and support to eligible descendants, including financial, emotional and practical help for a range of concerns.

We offer grants to help Kindred manage day-to-day needs and navigate life changes. Support for adults on low incomes, whether retired or working One-off costs, like replacing a washing machine or other essential household items Help for students taking their first degree at a UK university. Find more information on our Student Scheme and Kindred programme in the resources section.

Providing financial support to eligible Kindred children and young people whose household receives a qualifying benefit. Support is available through our School Uniform Grant and Further Education Grant, which can help with the costs of education, including school uniforms, further education expenses and, where needed, a laptop. To apply, contact the Kindred team.

We will confirm eligibility, check any outstanding registrations and provide an application form. For full details about Education Grants, go to the resources section. Financial assistance is mainly for those with low incomes and is tailored to individual circumstances.

Each application is looked at individually. We need you to fill in an application form so we can understand your financial situation and see how we can best support you – get in touch with us to request a form and we’ll send you one. If you’ve applied and you’re not happy with our decision, please read our guidance on how to request a review.

Get in touch with the Kindred team To register, make an enquiry, or apply for assistance, please contact the Kindred Team on 020 7264 4970 and select option 2, or email us. Emotional and mental health support Our free, confidential helpline is open to all Kindred, whatever your income.

It’s free, independent and here to help you with: Mental and physical health Find out more and access help Charis streamlines support delivery to households. We work with Charis to provide financial support quickly and efficiently to Kindred. They support with vouchers for food and energy top ups, white goods and furniture when we’ve awarded a grant.

The OT Practice is an independent, specialist Occupational Therapy company. We work with them to provide OT assessments for Kindred where there is a long wait for statutory support. They also recommend aids and adaptations to support disabilities or long term health conditions.

Pennysmart Money Advice Service provides free, impartial and confidential money and debt advice. We work with Pennysmart to support Kindred with missing benefit entitlements, debts and budgeting. They can support applications for financial assistance by providing financial statements.

How to register as Kindred To register, you’ll need to show you’re a direct descendent of (or adopted by) someone previously registered as Kindred, within certain date limits. If you’re not sure, we’re here to guide you through the process. Over the years, some Kindred families lost touch with the Foundation.

Our Kindred widening project is helping to reconnect with them. We hold family trees going back centuries, in many cases all the way back to the 1600s, and we’re actively identifying descendants who may not know they are eligible for support. If you’ve received a letter from us, it will include information about how to register, as well as information about how your family links to our family tree.

If you have questions about the letter, the family tree or anything else, we’d love to hear from you. To get in touch, please contact the Kindred Team. What is the Kindred programme and who are the Kindred?

When Henry Smith died in 1628 he left money in his Will to help people in his family (his ‘Kindred’) who were in financial need. We have kept a family tree of Kindred since that time. Many branches of the family tree date back to the 1600s.

Everyone on the family tree is descended from Henry’s sister Joan as Henry had no children. Today we would describe Henry as a philanthropist. He was born in Wandsworth in 1548 and spent his adult life in London.

He died a wealthy man as a result of his business dealings, and set up a range of trusts to govern how his fortune should be used. The Henry Smith Foundation has existed since Henry’s death in 1628 and was registered in its current form in 1963. Why are you contacting me now?

Throughout the centuries the onus was on Kindred to contact us to register themselves or other family members (e. g when they married or had children). However, we know there are many branches of the family who, for one reason or another, stopped registering with us.

Lots of these families will not have passed on information about the Kindred programme to their descendants, so many people are unaware of their link to our family tree, or the help we can offer. Because of this we are undertaking a project to find and reconnect with these families. Why haven’t you contacted me before?

This kind of research has only recently become possible with the arrival of genealogical websites such as Ancestry, and in recent years there has been a big increase in other information available online, which has helped our research. How did you find my address? Our main way of finding people is the Electoral Roll.

A version of it can be searched online. Not everyone in my family received a letter from you. Why is this?

If someone is not registered to vote, opts out of the published version of the Electoral Roll or if there are lots of people that share the same name, it is more difficult for us to find an address for them, or be sure we are writing to the right person. Can I pass the information on to other family members? Yes, please do, and ask them to get in touch.

We are hoping the people we contact will help us find other family members. However, please contact us first to clarify which part of your family is on our tree. Only relatives who share the same link to our family tree will be eligible to register.

For instance, cousins on your father’s side of the family would not be eligible if the link to our tree is through your mother’s family. How big is the Kindred family tree? There were 6,000 people on the family tree when we began our research, of which we estimated c.

1,500 were alive. The family tree has grown considerably as a result of our research – more than 4,500 living Kindred are now registered with us. What will I need to do to register?

We will need to ask you a few questions to confirm we have found the right person, but unless you wish to make an application most people will not need to provide us with any other information at this stage. I don’t need help at the moment. Should I still register?

It is a good idea to be registered with us, regardless of whether or not you need help now as there may come a time when we can help you or your descendants. If you were to need help in a hurry – e.g. in the event of a crisis, we would be able to respond much faster if you are already registered. Yes, once you are registered we would be happy to send you a family tree.

Our records date back to the 1600s. I would like to make an application or find out more about my family tree. What should I do?

Please phone us on 020 7264 4970 and select option 2 from the menu to reach the Kindred Team, or email us at kindred@henrysmith. foundation . Our address, should you prefer to write to us, is The Henry Smith Foundation, Caledonia House, 3rd Floor, 223 Pentonville Road, London N1 9NG.

I think I have received your letter in error. What should I do? Please get in touch.

We have been as careful as we can to ensure we write to the right people, but it is not always easy to be 100% sure. We will be able to clarify with a couple of quick questions if you are not the person we are looking for. What else does the Henry Smith Foundation do?

We are best known for the grants we make to organisations throughout the UK. Our grant programmes distribute around £50 million each year, mainly to support organisations and projects that help combat social disadvantage and poverty in disadvantaged areas or communities. You can find out more about our work on our website.

You can also check us out using the ‘Search for a charity’ section of the Charity Commission’s website. Our charity number is 230102. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more common in our work and lives.

AI tools like ChatGPT can be powerful aids, helping save time, improve accessibility and make things easier for you. There are also some challenges when it comes to using AI to complete forms or write to us about your circumstances. Do not share any sensitive or personal information with AI tools.

The companies that own AI tools may not be keeping it safe. Before you put any information into AI, make sure that any private or personal data has been removed – especially if you’re sharing information about important and private things such as health conditions. Can I use AI to help with my application?

When you apply for a Kindred grant, we need to understand your unique situation and how we can help you. Your application should reflect your individual circumstances in your own words, even if there are spelling mistakes. We’re happy to support you over the phone if you need help completing our application form.

AI-generated emails and applications are often very generic, can include errors, and don’t always make sense. Always check the accuracy of any information AI provides and ensure it is used as a support tool, not as a replacement to describe your unique circumstances. AI is always changing.

We want to learn how it is used, and how it can work better for you. We will use feedback and research to update our guidance regularly.

Kindred grants information Word version of our Kindred grants information Kindred registration information Word version of our Kindred registration guidance Henry Smith's Complaints Process Request a review of your grant decision Information on how to request a review of your Kindred application Information on student grants for Kindred Information on Kindred education grants How we recommend using AI in your application Discover more at Henry Smith Learn more about our 2025-2030 priorities Hear about updates on our new strategy as soon as they are announced ​The Christian Grants programme supports initiatives that promote Anglican Clergy Wellbeing.

Supporting fun, enriching experiences for children. Grants and support for Henry Smith’s descendants. ​The Christian Grants programme supports initiatives that promote Anglican Clergy Wellbeing.

Supporting fun, enriching experiences for children. Grants and support for Henry Smith’s descendants. Updates from the Henry Smith Foundation Dampens color and removes blinks This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.

Improves website's visuals This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.

Cognitive Disability Mode Cognitive Disability Mode Helps to focus on specific content This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.

Reduces distractions and improve focus This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions. Allows using the site with your screen-reader This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it. Start typing to search in Wikipedia Visually Pleasing Experience We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2. 1 (WCAG 2. 1) at the AA level.

These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more. This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times.

We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs. Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly.

This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments. If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you.

You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email Screen-reader and keyboard navigation Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions.

As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively.

Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples: Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes.

For example, we provide accurate form labels; and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.

To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website. These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard.

This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.

Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.

Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements. Disability profiles supported in our website Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.

Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others. Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.

ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions. Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it. Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys.

Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements. Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.

Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over seven different coloring options. Animations – person with epilepsy can stop all running animations with the click of a button.

Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.

Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.

Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions. Browser and assistive technology compatibility We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible.

Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers). Notes, comments, and feedback Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs.

There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies.

All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to