Founded in 2018, The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust was formed to support young leaders who are transforming their communities across the Commonwealth. With Moravia Yachting announced as the Trust’s exclusive yachting partner, clients of the Hill Robinson Group now have the unique opportunity to be a part of this important work.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) was set up in recognition of Her Majesty the Queen’s love for the Commonwealth and its young people. Since 2018, QCT has been working with a new way of grant-making to help young leaders transform their communities through social ventures across the areas of agriculture and food, education and employability, the environment, health, and inclusion.
QCT comprises a small team of staff with deep expertise in working in developing countries. QCT provides youth-led organisations with flexible funding, practical tools and support and a vibrant network of fellow young leaders.
“We act as a secretariat to social entrepreneurs around the world doing incredible things,” explains CEO Chris Kelly. “They are often solving local issues with local solutions, so we recognise that the expertise lies with them, but they might need help with organisational aspects such as financial management, impact measurement or safeguarding.”
Unlike many other funders, QCT focuses on achieving longer-term rather than short-term impact.
“Our aim is to strengthen the organisation and help them reach a sustainable place where they are able to carry on growing into the future,” adds Chris. “If we help them with these organisational aspects and give them ownership, we are helping them to do more over a longer period of time.”
Having recently added another 15 young leaders to an existing cohort of 11, QCT works closely alongside each of its grant recipients for two-plus years. It typically costs £45,000 for the trust to support a young leader during this time, including funding, technical assistance, and overhead costs – a nominal sum when considering what the value of the consultancy support would be in the professional services industry.
One such recipient of QCT’s support so far is Daniel Misaki, founder of Ihandiro Youth Advocates for Nature (IYAN). Born and raised in the Rwenzori mountains in south-western Uganda, Daniel grew up surrounded by lush forest and a rich biodiversity. However, with local households depending heavily on firewood and charcoal burning for cooking stoves and light sources, Daniel’s community has seen significant forest cover loss, as well as increased landslides and soil erosion.
Recognising that many of these issues were rooted in a lack of access to, and education about, clean energy sources, Daniel founded IYAN to empower the local community to protect nature through a number of conservation and sustainable livelihood efforts. QCT support is enabling Daniel to supply households with 1000 clean energy cooking stoves and 240 solar solutions, as well as increased awareness of environmentally sustainable solutions. QCT is also helping to expand IYAN’s reforestation activities, helping the organisation to reclaim unforested land.
Now that Moravia Yachting has been selected as QCT’s exclusive yachting partner, following many years of discussions between Chris and Moravia Yachting’s Charter and Sales Broker Alastair Callender, its clients will now have the opportunity to directly impact worthwhile causes.
“Moravia Yachting is highly honoured to receive this endorsement and forge close personal links with The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust,” comments Alastair. “To build and connect a network of philanthropists to one another, while importantly supporting the work of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Commonwealth Trust, gives the company immense pride. It is extraordinarily rewarding to ‘join the dots’ between many of yachting’s enthusiasts and also shine a light on how the QCT’s young leaders are a catalyst for sustainable growth and positive impact. As a direct result, countless lives are being protected and numerous communities around the world are now being transformed.”
Chris hopes that the partnership will help QCT to fundraise and support more young social entrepreneurs around the world. “I think our leaders will be of immense interest to Moravia Yachting’s clientele, who might like to support a young person who’s making a tangible difference to communities with Her Majesty’s blessing,” he concludes.
Looking to the future, the partnership promises to bring about a number of specially curated fundraising events. With QCT and Moravia’s combined network and access to unique and special venues on land and on water, there are some exciting plans in the making – watch this space!
