The Tolkien Trust

The Tolkien Trust is a British charity founded in 1977 by J.R.R. Tolkien's children. As a charitable trust, it makes grants to a wide variety of organisations at the discretion of the current trustees. It does not manage Tolkien's literary estate, even though its source of income is via the copyright it owns to some of Tolkien's works that were formerly owned by The Tolkien Estate.

Activities

Created on 1 April 1977, and registered with the Charity Commission from 2 June 1977, the Trust was founded by J.R.R. Tolkien's four children: John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla. Today, the trustees of the charity are Christopher, Priscilla, Michael George Tolkien (son of Michael, succeeding his sister Joan as a trustee in 2008), and Christopher's wife Baillie Tolkien.

The Trust makes grants to other charitable causes at the discretion of the trustees. It currently does not accept unsolicited applications for funding, but does list a number of specific areas it supports:

In the period 2008-13, sizeable grants (£100,000 and over) have been made to: Enfants du Monde, The Grail Centre Trust, Oxfam, Rebuilding Sri Lanka, Action Against Hunger (Haiti Earthquake Appeal), Médecins Sans Frontières (Haiti Earthquake Appeal), UNICEF (Haiti Earthquake Appeal), University of Manitoba (Alan Klass Memorial Fund), Action Against Hunger (Pakistan Flooding), Find Your Feet, King Edward's School Birmingham Trust, Médecins Sans Frontières (Pakistan Flooding), Oxfam (Pakistan Flooding), UNICEF, and The Bodleian Library. On top of that, The Tolkien Trust has also been listed as a supporter of Birdlife International, the Koestler Trust, the Orchestra of St. John's, the Oxford Botanic Garden, the Prisoners' Educational Trust, and the WWF.

Litigation

From 2003 and 2006 the Trust and The Tolkien Estate demanded royalties from The Lord of the Rings films. Following claims from New Line Cinema that the films failed to make a profit, on 11 February 2008 The Tolkien Trust, The Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins filed a lawsuit seeking at least $150 million (7.5% of gross revenue) in damages. They accused New Line Cinema of "unabashed and insatiable greed" and the "infamous practice of creative 'Hollywood accounting'." The claim, which also attempted to stop production of the forthcoming Hobbit films, was concluded on 8 September 2009 with an out-of-court settlement. Christopher Tolkien said that they "regret that legal action was necessary, but are glad that this dispute has been settled on satisfactory terms" and that "New Line may now proceed with its proposed films of 'The Hobbit'", whilst their lawyer said that they "feel vindicated and are entirely satisfied with the terms of the settlement." Alan Horn, president of Warner Bros. (owners of New Line Cinema) said "we all look forward to a mutually productive and beneficial relationship in the future". Although both sides refused to reveal the size of settlement - simply saying that the Tolkien Trust would receive a "significant portion" - the Trust's accounts reveal that in 2009 and 2010 it received £24 million and £1.6 million respectively in film rights, and in 2011 it received £603,515 in merchandising rights.

On the 19 November 2012, Priscilla Tolkien as a trustee of The Tolkien Trust, The Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins ("the plaintiffs") filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and the Saul Zaentz Company ("the defendants") seeking damages of $80 million. They claimed that Tolkien's copyright had been breached and that the defendants had no right to sell themed slot machines and downloadable video games; in the claim the plaintiffs state: "Not only does the production of gambling games patently exceed the scope of defendants' rights, but this infringing conduct has outraged Tolkien's devoted fan base, causing irreparable harm to Tolkien's legacy and reputation and the valuable goodwill generated by his works." They assert that the merchandising rights only extend to physical, and not electronic, products. On 11 March 2013, Saul Zaentz and Warner Bros. filed counter-claims against the plaintiffs (including The Tolkien Trust) arguing that as a result of the Estate's actions the defendants had lost out on merchandising income, and that there has been a breach of good-faith by the Estate and the Trust.

Copyrights

The primary assets of The Tolkien Trust are the copyrights to certain works by J.R.R. Tolkien which continue to provide income to the Trust. The assets held by The Tolkien Trust are a number of (many posthumous) publications by J.R.R. Tolkien:

The Trust also holds a number of sundry assets:

Finances

The Trust does not partake in any fund-raising activity: all income received constitute royalties from copyrights and subsequent investments. Although the Trust holds literary assets no value is provided for them on the grounds that it would not be "practical and cost-effective"; as such, the primary assets of the Trust are cash and investments (bonds and shares). The Trust has an ethical investment policy so has no investment in tobacco, or the manufacture of armaments. In 2012, gambling services was added to the list of investments the Trust would not hold.

The Trust was founded on 1 April 1977 and its financial year was the same as the United Kingdom's fiscal year for individuals (6 April - 5 April). In 2013 the existed unincorporated charity was closed and its assets transferred to a new charitable incorporated organisation; the new charity's financial year is the same as the calendar year.

<table class="TGtable" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0 auto;"> 2008-92009-102010-112011-122012-132013
<tr><td>Income</td>£24,536,138£2,017,443£1,752,286£1,717,200£1,942,814</tr>
<tr><td>Expenditure</td>£2,324,124£4,397,323£1,395,694£1,091,223£1,169,680</tr>
  (on charitable activities)£1,098,289£3,712,300£1,141,114£811,526£681,906
<tr><td>Assets</td>£27,511,980£26,290,897£26,876,848£27,523,341£27,521,895£28,489,210</tr>
</table>

Referencias

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.

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