Top 10 UK development foundations

BARCELONA — In 2016/17, the United Kingdom’s charitable foundations spent over £4.5 billion ($5.6 billion), according to the "Foundation Giving Trends 2018" report. While these family trusts, philanthropic ventures, and grant-making institutions widely distributed their funds across a range of issues within the U.K. and abroad, mainly via grants, a substantial amount focused on development issues such as education, health, and economic growth. Although geo-political uncertainty, fluctuating exchange rates, and a backdrop of divided public opinion pose a risk to overseas charitable giving in particular, foundation spending still increased by 8.2% on the previous year. According to the report, published by the Association of Charitable Foundations, gains in investment and voluntary income streams were the main drivers behind increased spending. Based on annual disbursements across 2016-17, these are the U.K.-based foundations channeling the most amount of money toward sustainable international development efforts. Net assets are based on the same period of time, although some may have since risen. 1. Wellcome Trust Annual disbursements: £844.7 million Net assets: £21.9 billion This science and health research organization based in London was founded by the legacy of Sir Henry Wellcome after his death in 1936. All its activities follow the wishes outlined in his will and are based on the idea that research can lead to better health outcomes. The charity’s current focus is on preparing for the next epidemic. It is largely funding research across 70 countries that looks at vaccine development, behavioural development of health workers, and advocacy and engagement around epidemics. Previous research projects have looked at snakebite, mental health, and the effects of climate change on health. The latter remain priority areas for the organization. It recently invested £200 million for research into early intervention treatments for depression and anxiety among young people, and £75 million for a five-year program on data for science and health. Aside from funding research, the Wellcome Trust convenes policymakers in an effort to ensure that health policy is tangibly impacted by solid research. Read more: The Wellcome Trust is one of many U.K.-based aid organizations to have set up offices elsewhere in Europe following the Brexit referendum. Find out why. 2. Children's Investment Fund Foundation Annual disbursements: £170.5 million Net assets: £3.8 billion The Children's Investment Fund Foundation is the biggest child and adolescent-focused foundation in the world and mainly focuses on improving the lives of those in lower-income countries. Its key funding areas include children and mothers’ health, nutrition, children’s education and welfare, and tackling climate change in relation to its effects on children. Founder Chris Hohn was named earlier this year as the U.K’s biggest personal philanthropist having given away more than a third of his £1.2 billion fortune. The fund hit the headlines in 2017 when it became ensnared in Hohn’s high-profile divorce, with the High Court ordering CIFF to pay £280 million to Big Win Philanthropy, the new charity of Hohn’s then-wife and CIFF co-founder Jamie Cooper. The Court of Appeal has since overturned the ruling, but the case is ongoing. CIFF works with a range of partners including PEPFAR, the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation, and local governments, and emphasizes the need for leadership on the ground as well as an evidence-based approach to ensure faster learning and project adaptation. It also remains a staunch advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights, playing a key role in helping to establish She Decides, the antiglobal gag rule movement, and climate change, having invested $20 million into the Clean Air Fund. Read more: Devex goes behind the scenes at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. 3. Comic Relief Annual disbursements: £99.5 million Net assets: £93.5 million The brainchild of Richard Curtis, the scriptwriter behind box office hits such as “Love Actually” and “Notting Hill,” and comedian Lenny Henry, Comic Relief launched in 1985 and runs two televised fundraising events — Red Nose Day and Sports Relief — which each take place every other year. The aim is to drive positive change through the power of entertainment. Originally created in response to the famine in Ethiopia, Comic Relief now aims to tackle poverty and injustice more broadly. Of the donations it receives, half are spent on U.K. causes while the other half are allocated to other countries. Last Red Nose Day, £64 million was raised despite the organization coming under criticism for its perceived use of “poverty porn.” Regularly engaging celebrities for its fundraising broadcasts, the charity has been accused of perpetuating a European savior narrative in some of its messaging. In response, Comic Relief said last year that it would swap celebrities for local storytellers. Partners currently receiving the most amount of funding from Comic Relief include The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Cities Alliance, Sierra Leone YMCA, and John Hopkins University. Read more: Comic Relief is a specialist in working with celebrities to galvanize support for a cause. Read its how-to guide. 4. Gatsby Charitable Foundation Annual disbursements: £36.3 million Net assets: £396.8 million Set up by British business owner Lord Sainsbury of Turville in 1967, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation focuses on a range of topics including plant science, neuroscience, education, Africa, public policy, and the arts. In Africa, it supports programs that are designed to “accelerate inclusive and resilient economic growth by demonstrating how key sectors can be transformed.” It funds smaller and local organizations such as the Kenya Markets Trust, the Wood Foundation Africa, and Aquifer Limited with the aim of creating jobs, generating income, and reducing poverty across East Africa. It has also set up new entities — such as the Forestry Development Trust, the Textile Development Unit in Tanzania’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and Msingi — to tackle what it believes are unaddressed issues. In 2017, its grantmaking doubled after receiving a £55.4 million injection from Lord Sainsbury. 5. The Grace Trust Annual disbursements: £30 million Net assets: £15 million The Grace Trust was founded by John Dallow in 1968, after he sold his manufacturing company. A key force behind the trust is the advancement of Christianity. News reports have linked it to the Exclusive Brethren, a highly conservative church, and much of its work is around Christian education. However, it also works with aid organizations in the areas of nongovernmental emergency services and medical relief, disaster relief, child care, disability support, and essential medical research, both in England and Wales, and overseas. Its income saw huge growth between 2007-8, when it totalled £9.5 million, and 2012, when it reached £73.5 million. Alongside concerns about its two corporate trustees, it drew the attention of the Charity Commission, the U.K.’s charity regulator, which issued them with an action plan to strengthen the charity’s structure and approach to decision-making. After new policies on grant making and financial controls were implemented, the Commission said it was satisfied and closed the case. 6. Vodafone Foundation Annual disbursements: £21 million Net assets: £4.2 million Connecting charitable giving with technology, the Vodafone Foundation — funded by the Vodafone Group Plc and Vodafone U.K. since 1991 — supports projects in the areas of health, education, or disaster relief through the use of mobile technology. It does this via its 27 local foundations to ensure all its work is tailored to the needs of the local communities in which Vodafone operates — think “telemedicine” via Vodafone Albania Foundation, HIV diagnosis and treatment through Vodacom Lesotho Foundation, and birth assistant training via Vodacom Tanzania Foundation. External partners include UNHCR, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Red Cross, USAID, and local governments. The foundation is among the U.K’s biggest corporate foundations and receives approximately 12,000 requests for funding and support each year. It also runs the Wireless Innovation Challenge, which calls for solutions to social problems using wireless-related technology. In 2017, it gave $600,000 via the challenge to projects addressing infectious diseases, animal poaching, and mobile financial services. Read more: How Vodafone is supporting health delivery in Africa 7. Shell Foundation Annual disbursements: £20.6 million Net assets: £395 million The Shell Foundation is the charity arm of the oil and gas company Shell Group, and was established in 2000 to address global development challenges with business thinking and by harnessing private markets to produce scalable solutions. Its areas of focus include energy access, sustainable mobility, and job creation in countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The foundation follows what it calls an enterprise-based model, where it works with entrepreneurial partners to create new social enterprises. It then provides these partners with grant funding, expertise, and access to networks. For example, earlier this year the foundation contributed to the setting up of the Facility for Energy Inclusion, a platform for financing energy solutions in Africa, and Crossboundary Energy Access, a minigrid system in Africa that aims to bring electricity to 100 million people. In 2017, the organization’s social investments doubled for a second consecutive year and it sits among the U.K’s top corporate foundations. At the same time, its parent company, Shell Group, remains locked in an ongoing legal battle following accusations that it was complicit in human rights abuses in Nigeria. 8. Aga Khan Foundation U.K. Annual disbursements: £18.7 million Net assets: £91 million The Aga Khan Foundation U.K. is part of the broader Aga Khan Development Network, which consists of 10 different agencies. The network was founded in 1967 by Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. The U.K. arm was established in 1973 and implements and funds programs that address human potential and improve quality of life, especially for women and girls. The foundation focuses its work in areas of agriculture and food security, economic inclusion, education, early childhood development, health and nutrition, and civil society. One of its biggest current projects — co-funded by European Union — is “Supporting Cooperation and Opportunities for Regional Economic Development.” Operating across the Takhar-Khatlon borders between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the project aims to stimulate regional trade and cooperation by establishing crossborder infrastructure such as bridges, roads, and markets to improve connectivity, support micro- and small -enterprises, and boost economic opportunities and encourage exchanges. The foundation aims to bring together a multitude of partners operating in the lowest-income settings — from U.K. and European governments, agencies, and NGOs to policy institutes, corporations, and professional networks — to design and implement sustainable projects. 9. Goldman Sachs Gives UK Annual disbursements: £18.5 million Net assets: £93 million Having given £5 million less in 2016 than the year before, Goldman Sachs Gives U.K. — a program within the Goldman Sachs Foundation — substantially increased its grant amounts for 2017, putting it among the top 10 U.K. corporate foundations. Set up in 2008, it is a fund that allows current and former partners in Goldman Sachs — a financial services and investment bank — to nominate nonprofit organizations to receive grants from the bank itself. In all of its philanthropic investments, the Goldman Sachs Foundation focuses on economic growth and community engagement, results measurement, and establishing networks of nonprofit and educational partners. Operating in over 90 countries, recipients include the University of Cambridge, Greenhouse Sports, and UNICEF U.K. The foundation as a whole recently partnered with the International Finance Corporation on the 10,000 Women initiative, which aims to give more than 100,000 women entrepreneurs greater access to finance. Read more: Goldman Sachs Foundation president Asahi Pompey talks to Devex about the “ripple impact” of investing in women. 10. Amanat Charity Trust Annual disbursements: £17.3 million Net assets: £18 million Also known as the Ummah Welfare Trust, Amanat is a foundation focused on funding and delivering international relief. Established in 2001, it is inspired by the Islamic teachings of empathy, generosity, and selflessness and aims to alleviate poverty worldwide. To do so, it operates in 20 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe and has a 100% donations policy, meaning that any donations to the foundation are purely used for programming and not for fundraising or administration overheads. In 2017, the organization was one of four big U.K. charities that hadn’t paid the U.K. fundraising levy, which funds The Fundraising Regulator. Charities that spend over £100,000 make a voluntary, yet expected, payment in order to join the register. It has continued to shun the payment each financial year since. This year, Devex is exploring philanthropy in Europe — from what the Gates Foundation is doing in Brussels to the burgeoning research field of behavioral philanthropy in Geneva. Keep an eye out for more to come.