Embargoed until 00.01am 10 November 2010

Time for UK wealthy to give more and strengthen foundations for Big Society

Report illustrates family foundations leading the way in tackling Big Society issues butUK wealthy need to scale up their giving

The UK’s top 100 family foundations have defied the economic downturn by giving £1.4 billion to charitable causes in 2008/2009 and putting the rhetoric of Big Society into action, according to the third annual Family Foundation Giving Trends 2010report produced by the ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy at Cass Business School, City University London,in collaboration with Pears Foundation.

The report challenges the UK’s wealthiest individuals to follow the example of family foundations by setting up their own and providing a long term commitment to tackling some the challenges faced by society in the current climate of austerity. It paints a vivid picture of the commitment, drive and diversity of approach to giving amongst family foundations in the UK, highlighting many thoughtful and imaginative initiatives.

The main findings of the report are:

  • The largest 100 family foundations in the UK gave a total of £1.4 billion to charitable causes in 2008/09 – 9% of all private giving
  • Between 2005/06 and 2008/09 the amount they gave increased by 40%
  • In spite of the economic turbulence which saw their asset values fall by a real 12% in 2008/09, family foundation giving fell by just 0.2% in real terms
  • The top 5 family foundations by charitable expenditure were the Wellcome Trust (£681 million), the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (£50 million), the Leverhulme Trust (£45 million), the Wolfson Foundation (£39 million) and the Monument Trust (£35 million)
  • Between 2005/06 and 2008/09, the value of family foundation giving grew from £998 million to £1.4 billion.

Commenting on the report findings, Trevor Pears, Executive Chair of Pears Foundation, said:

“Family foundations have proved remarkably resilient at a time when state resources are stretched and other forms of giving are under pressure.

The top 100 Foundations set an example of what passion, commitment and strategic thought can achieve – but it’s not enough. We need hundreds more foundations and many more initiatives which show philanthropy working at its best.

We are calling on the wealthiest individuals and families in the UK to be inspired, step up and usher in a new age of long term, committed giving.”

Cathy Pharoah, co-author of the report and Professor of Charity Funding and Co-Director of the ESRC Research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, CassBusinessSchool, said:

“You hear a lot of talk about what the Big Society is or isn’t, but family foundations have been quietly taking an active role in our communities for generations. We’ve seen a number of new foundations coming into the top 100 recently, and I’d like to see the trend towards creating family foundations grow in terms of scale, scope and ambition to meet the escalating needs of society.”

Family Foundation Giving Trends 2010 is the third in a series of annual reports tracking trends in the giving of the largest 100 UK family foundations (by giving). It includes tables of tthe100 largest family foundations in the UK by annual charitable spending, benchmarked against giving trends in the UK and US.

Amidst increasing interest in the role of philanthropy in building a better society as public expenditure reduces, the report highlights major giving through family foundations.

Many new family foundations have been established over the last couple of decades, largely funded by the successful entrepreneurs of an era of expanding global markets and capital flows. They include the Waterloo Trust, set up by owners of Admiral Insurance; the Volant Trust, set up by J K Rowling; the Foyle Foundation; the Martin Smith Foundation; and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

The report was written by Cathy Pharoah, Professor of Charity Funding and Co-Director of the ESRC Research Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy, CassBusinessSchool, in collaboration with Charles Keidan, Director of Pears Foundation.

The full report will be launched on 16 November at an event at CassBusinessSchool in central London with representatives from some of the UK’s largest foundations.

ENDS

For further information please contactKatie McCrory () or Peter Gilheany () on 020 7403 2230.

Notes to editors

The ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (CGAP) at Cass provides crucial evidence which charities can use to develop giving in the UK, and which the Government can also use to ensure their policies are most effective in helping charities give all that they can to society.

The Centre is funded by the Office for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Scottish Government and the Carnegie UK Trust. Together they provide a total of £2.2million over 5 years.

CassBusinessSchool

CassBusinessSchool, which is part of City University London, delivers innovative, relevant and forward-looking education, training, consultancy and research. Located in the heart of one of the world’s leading financial centres, Cass is the business school for the City of London.

Our MBA, specialist Masters and undergraduate degrees have a global reputation for excellence, and the School supports nearly 100 PhD students. Cass offers the widest portfolio of specialist Masters programmes in Europe and our Executive MBA is ranked tenth in the world by the Financial Times.

Cass has the largest faculties of Finance and Actuarial Science and Insurance in Europe. It is ranked in the top 10 UK business schools for business, managementand finance research and 90% of the research output is internationally significant.

Cass is a place where students, academics, industry experts, business leaders and policy makers can enrich each other's thinking. For further information visit:

Pears Foundation

Pears Foundation is a British family foundation rooted in Jewish values. Its work is concerned with positive identity and citizenship. The work with the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy complements other investments by the Foundation in strengthening ‘philanthropy’ including the Pears Business Schools Partnership which supports the promotion of philanthropy and public service at business schools. For further information, please see