Introducing Maudsley Charity
About us
Maudsley Charity is a mental health charity based in southeast London. We fund and promote ideas, collaborations and teams that give people most affected by mental ill-health the best chance to recover and fulfil their potential.
Why we’re here
The consequences of mental ill health are far reaching – affecting employment, relationships, finances and even life expectancy. It can take a long time to find and access the care you need and deserve.
We are located in an area with a highly diverse population and some of the highest levels of serious mental illness in Europe. By investing in understanding what works here we can contribute to improved mental health for everyone. ​
How we work
We target the majority of our resources towards people who are most in need of but least likely to receive mental health care in the way and at the time that they should.
We give grants, funded from our endowment and donations, which range from multi-million pound clinical and research initiatives intended to drive change across the UK, to small scale projects supporting people who experience mental illness in south London.
We balance short and long-term goals. We want to make an immediate difference to lives and fund ideas which will have an impact on future generations.

Partnerships
​We work primarily with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, as well as a range of voluntary and community organisations to fund ideas, big and small, that drive service improvement and support people who experience mental illness.
​While we operate primarily within the four boroughs served by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark), we believe that all the work we fund has the potential for wider impact at both national and international levels, through the sharing of the outcomes with the wider mental health community. ​
Where we’ve come from
We can trace our history back to 1247 and the foundation of Bethlem Royal Hospital, the oldest psychiatric institution in the world. In 2018 we became an independent charity. Before that we were formally part of South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Our Board now comprises of eight independent trustees and three trustees nominated by the Trust. ​
Where we are going
This is a particularly exciting time to join the charity. We are maturing as an independent charity and have recently completed our strategic plan for 2024-2029. We have committed at least £40m over the next five years to projects focused on improving the lives of people with mental illness. ​
We are a small but growing team with bold ambitions around:
- How we can have maximum impact on the improvement of mental health services
- How we can address issues of discrimination and exclusion in what we fund and how we work
- How we can generate more funds to extend our work and build communities of support








