About us
Our history
The Journalists' Charity started in about 1860 when a group of parliamentary journalists met up in a London pub to set up a fund to help their colleagues and dependants who had fallen on hard times. In the days before state benefits, grants were made to meet the costs of providing some of the necessities of life.
The Charity's original name - still its registered name for legal purposes today - was the Newspaper Press Fund. A leading founder supporter was the author Charles Dickens, after whom our headquarters in Dorking, Surrey is named.
The Journalists' Charity today
In 2005, the Charity changed its working name to Journalists' Charity, to signal its mission as the leading provider of charitable help to journalists working in all branches of the media.
Today we are seeking to widen the membership of the Charity to bring in more broadcasters, magazine journalists as well as the next generation of journalists who are employed on web sites and other branches of the electronic news media.
The Journalists' Charity is the leading charity for all journalists in need; we are there to assist them, their partners and dependants with grants and other forms of financial assistance.
The Charity's biggest challenge to date was the reconstruction of our residential care home at Sandy Cross, Dorking. We now have the new and magnificent Pickering House and the new extra care flats at Harmsworth House.