Octopus funds new foundation with £350k donation
Howard Lake | 18 February 2015 | News
Fund management company Octopus Investments has created the Octopus Foundation, a new grantmaking charity that will support five small and medium sized charities that are achieving a significant social impact.
The initial grant of £350,000 is the equivalent of all of the first year’s annual management charge on all new applications received or pledged yesterday. The company points out that it maximised this sum as the launch falls in the middle of tax year end, one of its busiest times of the year. Financial advisers and investors also had the option to pledge applications yesterday in support of the initiative.
Five small charities
The five small and medium sized charities have already been chosen by Octopus employees. There are:
* CALM
* Greatwood
* North and South London Cares
* Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity
* Youth at Risk.
The charities will benefit not only from funds raised by Octopus over the next three years but also from voluntary support from Octopus employees. Each Octopus employee will be given a day off to support one of the five charities.
Simon Rogerson, CEO of Octopus, said:
“It’s great to be in a position where we can now start to give a little back. We wanted to support smaller UK charities that are making a massive difference in communities around the country and where our help can go a long way to enabling them to keep doing the work they’re doing.”
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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.