Roger De Haan Charitable Trust

Roger De Haan Charitable Trust

Founded in 1978 by Sir Roger De Haan and his late father Sidney, the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust channels the wealth generated by the Saga Group — the travel and financial services business built for the over-50s. The trust concentrates its grant-making in the communities surrounding Folkestone, Hythe, and Romney Marsh, where the bulk of Saga's employees were historically based. It operates as a registered charity (no. 276274) and files full accounts with the UK Charity Commission. The trust's strategy blends direct grants with catalytic property interventions. Grant activity spans six categories: Arts and Culture, Education, Health and Welfare, Sports, Community, and Heritage and Regeneration. Financial support ranges from small community grants to large-scale capital projects. A defining deployment model is its work in Folkestone's old town, where the trust acquires and refurbishes derelict buildings, then transfers them on 125-year peppercorn leases to Creative Folkestone, an independent charity that manages the spaces for artists and creative-industry tenants. Beyond property-led regeneration, the trust backs sports infrastructure — through its affiliate The Sports Trust, it acquired the Folkestone Sports Centre in 2025 to prevent its closure — and community arts programmes, such as funding the Musical Walkabout's coastal project for dementia patients in 2024. The trust operates with a lean governance structure, chaired by Sir Roger De Haan. It provides not only funding but also practical advice and access to professional expertise to help grantees execute projects. Grant application cycles run three times per year, with deadlines in January, May, and October. In 2025, The Sports Trust — an entity closely aligned with the charitable trust — acquired the Folkestone Sports Centre from administration, marking the trust's most significant direct intervention in local sports infrastructure to date. The trust's structural differentiator is its fusion of philanthropic grant-making with direct property ownership and long-term urban regeneration. Rather than purely distributing funds, it acts as a patient, place-based developer — owning the bricks and mortar of Folkestone's creative economy and stewarding those assets through a 125-year lease structure. This approach gives it a permanence and operational leverage unusual for a grant-making charity of its scale.