Top 100 UK family foundations gave £1.3 billion in 2009/10
Howard Lake | 16 November 2011 | News
The largest 100 UK family foundations gave a total of £1.3 billion to charitable causes in 2009/10, representing 7% of all UK charitable giving. The figure is one of the findings in the Family Foundation Giving Trends 2011 report, produced by Pears Foundation and the ESRC Research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy at Cass Business School.
The annual report has been published for four years. It found that UK family foundations have contributed £6.4 billion to charitable causes in the past five years, and that their giving has increased by 27% in that period, outpacing corporate (7% growth) and public giving (-0.4%).
The family foundation sector is dominated by a few large organisations: the ten largest family foundations by asset size own over 80% of the assets of the top 100. Nevertheless, the sector is significant in size: three quarters of the largest 100 family foundations give between £1 million and £6 million each year.
Charles Keidan, Director of Pears Foundation, said: “Many people recognise their increasing obligation to society through philanthropy – the report indicates that establishing a family foundation could be the most beneficial contribution they make. We need to see greater support to helping them do this and to ensuring it is not just seen as the preserve of the super rich.”
Cathy Pharaoh, author of the report and Professor of Charity Funding and co-director of the ESRC Research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, Cass Business School, agreed, saying: “The report calls on charities, professional advisers and policy makers to develop many more imaginative and supportive ways for potential philanthropists to share experiences and learning to ensure the bridge is crossed and more foundations are established.”
www.pearsfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Family-Foundation-Philanthropy-20113.pdf
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.