Lord Sainsbury becomes UK's first £1 billion charity donor
Howard Lake | 20 April 2009 | News
Lord Sainsbury, the former minister and supermarket business owner, has achieved his ambition stated in 2005 of becoming the first person in Britain to give £1 billion to charity.
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, which he established in 1967, has made grants of £660 million to support scientific research, the arts and mental health, together with projects in East Africa.
The Times reports (Britain’s first £1bn charity donor) that he has also “allocated a further £465 million to the foundation for good causes”, bringing the total to over £1 billion. The figures are taken from the foundation’s latest accounts.
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Lord Sainsbury has made it clear that he wishes the foundation’s funds to be spent during his lifetime, rather than invested to create an endowment for future giving.
John Low, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, welcomed Lord Sainsbury’s generosity. He said: “When highly motivated and successful people decide to focus on charitable giving they can have a very substantial and positive impact. Many of these philanthropists say it is the best money they have ever spent”.
He added that “the majority of charity donations still come from people giving small amounts” and urged the public to keep giving to charities.
- Elton John among most generous UK donors (29 November 2018)
- A Better World is Possible: the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Social Progress (book)
- Top 100 family foundations gave £14 billion in 2008-09 (10 November 2010)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.