The British Record Industry Trust

established in 1989 and is entirely funded by the music industry. Its mission is to encourage young people in the exploration and pursuit of educational, cultural or therapeutic benefits emanating from music.

The BRIT Trust’s main commitment is to The BRIT School in Croydon (the only non-fee paying Performing Arts School in the UK) and to Nordoff-Robbins (the UK’s leading independent provider of music therapy).

Since its inception, over £14m has been raised by the BRIT Trust for various charities with substantial profits coming to the BRIT Trust from the BRIT Awards - to date, some £11.2m has been raised by the BRIT Awards alone.

THE CHAIRMAN’S FORWARD

Welcome to the BRIT Trust website. The BRIT Trust is the charitable arm of the British Record Industry and derives a large part of its income from the profits of the BRIT Awards. Other sources of income are from The Classic BRIT Awards and The Music Industry Trusts’ Dinner.

Since its inception in 1989, the Trust has distributed over £15m. Our principal beneficiaries are The BRIT School for the Performing Arts based in Croydon, a CTC School when it opened in 1991 and now funded within the Academy system, excelling in all forms of performing arts education. The BRIT Trust is the sponsor for the School and has donated just over £8 million to date. We make regular annual payments to Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, a charity very close to the record business heart which has one of its specialised units in the grounds of BRIT School. We also make small contributions to other charities who match our mission statement.

This year (2013) we are proud to be partnering with War Child in its 20th anniversary year. Proceeds from the downloads of the live performances from this year’s BRIT Awards will go towards the work of War Child. The music business, and especially its artists, is known for its benevolence and often reacts to lend its support immediately when it can. For example in 2005, following the awful events following the Tsunami, the BRIT Trust made a one-off payment of half a million pounds to Save The Children and in 2010, the Haiti campaign also became international beneficiaries of BRIT Trust funding.

I am very proud to be the Chairman of the BRIT Trust – after 50 years in the British Record Industry I feel that I am putting something back for all the benefit and happiness the industry has given me.

John Craig OBE
March 2013


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