Who We Are
The Manny Cohen Foundation was founded in late 2022 and registered as a charity in January 2023. From the outset, our purpose was straightforward: to help people. Not in a passive, transactional way, but in a manner that creates real, lasting change and as a wonderful legacy to Manny Cohen.
In our early days, we operated as a traditional grant-giving charity, pledging financial support to a range of causes. While we always took a genuine interest in the organisations we funded, we came to understand that writing a cheque is rarely enough. True impact requires presence, persistence and partnership.
That realisation shaped everything that followed.
From Grant-Maker to Hands-On Partner
Whilst we continue to support various charitable purposes, our focus is increasingly on direct action. We don’t simply fund projects, we help to build and run them, staying involved to make sure the support we provide lands where it is needed most.
We work closely with the charities we support, meeting them regularly and seeing their work first-hand. This ensures we understand exactly how our funds are used and helps us build strong relationships to deliver maximum impact.
Recently, our focus has shifted toward prototype and innovative projects that support Special Educational Needs teams and empower the neurodiverse community.
Neurodiversity and Young People
The area we are most passionate about right now is supporting neurodiverse children and young adults. The educational system does not always cater to children who think differently, and too many are left without the support they need at a critical stage of their development.
We are currently working on the ground with several schools to build programmes that give these children the right resources and the social confidence to flourish. It is rewarding, meaningful work, and we are actively looking to expand our partnerships to reach more families across North London and beyond.
Our Story: From Kremenets to North London
The Manny Cohen Foundation is not just a charitable organisation. It is the final chapter of a story that spans more than a century, beginning in the town of Kremenets, now in modern-day Ukraine.
In the early 1900s, Manny Cohen’s grandfather fled the constant threat of Cossack raids. As a Jewish family living in a region where the Russian Government made no attempt to protect Jewish enclaves, safety was not guaranteed. He sought refuge and opportunity in London, settling in Shoreditch at the very heart of the UK’s furniture trade. There, the Cohen family built a life defined by hard work, privacy, and a fierce devotion to one another.
Manny Cohen himself became a property investor and spent his entire life in the family home his parents had purchased, a house he never left. When he passed away in 2020, the world caught a glimpse of a life quietly and entirely his own, including his father’s 1965 Vauxhall Cresta, still parked in the garage, as though time had never moved on.
Following his death and through the dedication of those who knew him, his estate was directed toward charitable purposes. It was a fitting tribute to a man who, despite his intensely private nature, had always been thinking of others.
The Foundation was created to turn that family history into a lasting force for good. In our earliest days, we responded to the crisis in Ukraine, including sending help back to the very region from which Manny’s ancestors had once fled. It felt like the story had come full circle.
Since then, we have grown and evolved. We work across both Jewish and non-Jewish communities, supporting projects that bring people together. We believe the most fitting memorial for Manny Cohen is one that serves the whole of the community he called home.