Trussell

What Trussell does

Trussell (legally "The Trussell Trust") is a UK-registered charity founded in 1997 and headquartered in Salisbury, Wiltshire, with a secondary office in London. It operates the UK's largest coordinated network of food banks — over 1,300 food bank centres operating from 1,671 locations across 289 local authorities, supported by approximately 40,000 volunteers and 504 paid staff. The charity delivers emergency food parcels (minimum three days of meals) to people facing hunger and hardship, channelled through a voucher-based referral system in which local organisations such as doctors' surgeries, social workers, and advice agencies issue vouchers that are redeemed at network food banks.

The core product surface consists of the emergency food parcel service and the supporting voucher referral platform, layered with complementary tools including an advice helpline, benefits calculator, grants search, and energy-bill support aimed at addressing the upstream causes of food insecurity. Underpinning technology is intentionally lightweight: a "digital infrastructure supporting over 1,300 food bank centres" plus the BankTheFood mobile app, which gives donors real-time visibility of needed items and supports online supermarket "shop and donate" flows. Trussell also publishes the "Hunger in the UK" research series (with research partner Ipsos), runs the "Stand for Change" youth participation programme for 16–25 year-olds, and conducts policy and parliamentary engagement.

Trussell is a non-profit, not revenue-generating in a commercial sense. Income is diversified across: one-off and monthly individual donations (suggested tiers from £5 to £25 per month or custom, with Gift Aid uplift); a flagship corporate partnership with Tesco (since 2012), contributing £1.25m annually plus permanent collection points in 500+ stores and 535 Express stores and in-kind food donations; corporate partnerships with Tesco Mobile (the Little Helps Databank) and Tesco Bank; grants from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, the National Lottery Community Fund, and BBC Children in Need; gifts in wills; physical food donations routed through retail collection points and online supermarket integrations; and trading income from a wholly-owned subsidiary, Trussell Trading Limited. Governance is by a Board of Trustees; leadership is shared between Co-Chief Executives Emma Revie and Matthew van Duyvenbode.

Name

Trussell

Legal name

The Trussell Trust

Website

https://trussell.org.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Trussell (The Trussell Trust) is a UK-registered charity operating the country's largest food bank network — over 1,300 centres across 289 local authorities — providing voucher-referred emergency food parcels and welfare support services to people facing hunger and hardship, funded via individual donations and the flagship Tesco corporate partnership.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hunger Relief and Anti-Poverty Services

NAICS

Community Food Services (624210), Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Assistance & Food Banks (BPAGAEAA)

Keywords

• Emergency food parcels
• Food bank network
• Anti-poverty charity
• Hunger relief services
• Community support programmes

Headquarters

HQ city

Salisbury

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: One-off and recurring monthly donations from individual supporters. Monthly gift options range from £5-£25 or custom amounts, with Gift Aid adding 25p per pound donated by UK taxpayers.
2. Corporate Partnership - Tesco: Tesco provides £1.25m annual financial donation to complement customer donations in store. Partnership is the single biggest source of donated food in the Trussell community.
3. Gifts in Wills: Legacy donations left by supporters in their Wills to help build a future where no one faces hunger and poverty.
4. Food Donations: Physical food donations from individuals and corporate partners, including Tesco Food Collections and supermarket collection points, distributed through food banks in the network.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Trussell operates the largest coordinated network of food banks in the UK, comprising over 1,300 food bank centres across 289 local authorities. The charity provides emergency food parcels containing at least three days of meals to people facing hunger and hardship through a voucher-based referral system, alongside policy research, campaigning, and a suite of support services including an advice helpline, benefits calculator, grants search, and energy bill support.

Product overview

Trussell is an anti-poverty charity operating a network of over 1,300 food bank centres across the UK. The core offering consists of emergency food parcel provision through a voucher-based referral system, supported by money and food donation platforms. The organisation provides additional support services including an advice helpline, benefits calculator, grants search, and energy bill support. Trussell's work extends through campaigning and advocacy, publishing research on hunger and hardship, and operating youth participation programmes. The organisation connects a network of independent food banks operating under franchise, providing them with operational support while they deliver emergency food to people in need.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Emergency Food Parcel Service
• Food Voucher Referral System
• Money Donation Platform
• Food Donation System
• Food Bank Network Franchise A network of over 1,300 food bank centres throughout the UK operating under franchise, providing emergency food and support to people facing hardship.
• Advice Helpline (Help Through Hardship)
• Campaigning and Policy Advocacy
• Stand for Change Youth Programme
• Volunteer Programme
• Gifts in Wills (Legacy Giving)

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.6 million+ emergency food parcels distributed in 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Tesco MobilecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership to keep people facing hardship digitally connected. Tesco Mobile committed to connecting 50,000 people facing hardship by 2025 through the Little Helps Databank scheme. SIMs loaded with 25GB data monthly for six months distributed via food banks. Also Byte for a Bite initiative matching meals donated during Tesco Food Collection with free GB of data. Joint venture between Tesco and Virgin Media O2 serving 5.4m customers.
• TescoflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Since 2012, Tesco has been Trussell's flagship corporate partnership. The partnership is the single biggest source of donated food in the Trussell community. Tesco provides £1.25m annual financial donation, permanent collection points in over 500 stores plus 535 Express stores, and annual food collections. Tesco Bank also supports through colleague fundraising activities.
• Tesco BankminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2012Tesco Bank has supported Trussell over the last three years through colleague fundraising activities.
• FareSharecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFood redistribution charity working alongside Trussell and Tesco to build stronger communities across the UK. Partner in the Tesco Food Collection events.
• IpsoscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partner for the multi-year 'Hunger in the UK' mixed methods research programme. Ipsos conducts research alongside food banks in the Trussell community to understand problems driving food bank use and craft solutions.
• BankTheFoodcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partnership for the BankTheFood app that allows users to follow their local food bank and receive real-time updates on needed food items, facilitating donations.
• Get It DoneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity arts organisation that worked with the Stand for Change youth participation group to produce educational toolkits and resources.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• The Food Foundation: The Food Foundation is a UK charity focused on food insecurity research, policy, and public campaigns. It complements and partly overlaps with Trussell's policy and research work, particularly on child food poverty and the drivers of food bank use, making it a peer on the advocacy and evidence side of the mission.

Direct peers

• Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN): IFAN is a UK-wide coalition of independent food banks not affiliated with the Trussell network. It represents the principal alternative food bank infrastructure in the UK and competes with Trussell for referrals, volunteers, donations, and policy advocacy influence on anti-hunger issues.
• FareShare: FareShare is the UK's largest food redistribution charity, redistributing surplus food to a network of frontline charities. FareShare is explicitly named as a Trussell partner in the Tesco Food Collection events, and both organizations operate parallel models for channelling donated food to people in need, making them directly comparable in mission and operating model.
• The Salvation Army UK: The Salvation Army operates food banks, community feeding programmes, and hardship support across the UK alongside its broader social services mission. It overlaps directly with Trussell on emergency food provision, referral pathways, and volunteer-driven operations, although it sits within a wider faith-based charitable portfolio.

Others

• Child Poverty Action Group: Child Poverty Action Group is a UK charity focused on child poverty research, welfare rights, and policy campaigns. It is a peer on the policy and advocacy side of Trussell's mission, particularly given that families with children receive 62% of Trussell's food parcels, making child poverty reform a shared strategic priority.
• Crisis UK: Crisis is the UK's national homelessness charity. While it does not run food banks, it addresses overlapping drivers of hardship — poverty, inadequate benefits, and insecure housing — that intersect heavily with Trussell's beneficiary base, making it a thematically adjacent peer in the UK anti-poverty ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Oxfam GB: Oxfam GB is one of the UK's largest anti-poverty charities with a broad domestic and international remit. While Oxfam's UK poverty work is narrower than its international footprint, both organizations operate large UK fundraising machines, advocate on welfare policy, and engage major corporate partners around social impact.
• Citizens Advice: Citizens Advice is a major UK advice and welfare-rights charity that helps people navigate benefits, debt, and hardship. Trussell overlaps with Citizens Advice through its advice helpline, benefits calculator, and grants search tools, and both serve as core referral pathways for people experiencing financial crisis.
• Feeding America: Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organisation in the United States, operating a national network of food banks. While geographically separate, it is the closest analogue to Trussell's franchise-style food bank network model and a benchmark for scale, corporate partnerships, and policy advocacy in the food assistance sector.
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation: The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is a major UK poverty research and policy charity. It is directly comparable to Trussell on the research, evidence-based advocacy, and welfare reform dimensions, and both organizations regularly appear together in UK debates around Universal Credit adequacy and the drivers of food bank use.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/trusselluk

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trussell