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What Is the Garfield Weston Foundation?

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What Is the Garfield Weston Foundation? What is the Garfield Weston Foundation? The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded charitable grant-making foundation which supports a wide range of causes across the UK, donating over £58million in the most recent financial year. It was established in 1958 by Willard Garfield Weston and since then has donated over £900million, becoming one of the largest and most respected charitable institutions in the UK. The trustees are descendants of the founder and the Weston Family takes a highly active and hands-on approach. • Each year the Foundation spends the income it receives and donations have continued to grow. 2015-16 was yet another record year with the Foundation donating over £58 million. The Trustees are delighted to have been able to grant such a significant sum during the current economic climate. • In general, over 1,800 charities of all sizes across the UK benefit each year and the significant majority of grants are for small projects and organisations across the UK’s local communities. • Despite the diversity of organisations and projects the Foundation funds, the common theme is an approach to quality and excellence, with projects demonstrating clear outcomes and benefits, capable and talented individuals and sensible plans. Support for core costs is a particular Foundation strength as unrestricted income is especially valuable for charities and is often challenging to secure. • The Foundation is proud of the fact that applications are always reviewed by at least one Trustee, enabling charities to have confidence that their proposals are considered with care and attention by very experienced grant-makers with wide ranging knowledge and skills. The Foundation Charter (available on our website) outlines our commitment to applicants in a clear and transparent way and has encouraged other grant makers to do the same. • The Foundation benefits from having active and highly engaged Weston Family Trustees - all Trustees are related to the Founder and they volunteer a significant amount of their personal time to review applications, visit charities, conduct referencing and meet with individuals across the charity sector. • The Foundation contributes to a wide range of causes which are open to eligible charities to apply - currently particular emphasis is being placed on Welfare, Youth and Community organisations as these have been disproportionately affected by the financial climate. This emphasis is also supported by a range of measures focused on specific regions which have also been especially adversely impacted – in particular Wales, Northern Ireland and the North East. Where does the Foundation’s income come from? • The Garfield Weston Foundation holds a majority stake (79.2%) in a privately-owned holding company called Wittington Investments. Wittington holds a diverse portfolio of investments, of which the largest is a stake in Associated British Foods (ABF), a publicly quoted company – Wittington owns 54.5% of Associated British Foods (ABF). Other investments include hotels (such as The Grand Hotel in Brighton), property and retail interests (such as Fortnum & Mason). • The charitable donations made through the Foundation are related to the success of the investments held by Wittington – the business operates with a long-term time horizon and has continued to grow, therefore the donations to charity have also grown. • The fact that donations have grown year on year is a direct result of the success of the underlying investments such as ABF (which owns businesses such as Primark, Twinings and Ryvita, amongst others) which provides quality employment for over 100,000 people. The fact that these businesses are predominantly owned by a charity enables the business to take a long-term view which in turn creates sustainable income for the Foundation to donate across the UK. Examples of Recent Donations: While the Foundation funds across a broad range of categories the underlying ethos remains consistent – to support charities with talented people and effective ways to meet a clear need. The Trustees adopt a deliberate strategy to empower people and charities to create their own solutions rather than to impose a particular model or viewpoint - it is this flexibility that enables the Foundation to respond and adapt to changes in need while embracing the most effective solutions and ideas. This practical way of working has characterised the Foundation since its inception in 1958 and has also enabled the Trustees to introduce new and innovative projects in recent years such as the Weston Charity Awards and to develop partnerships with other grant makers where working together can increase impact. Recent examples of grants are below and further case studies can be found on the Foundation’s website www.garfieldweston.org • Welfare: The Foundation has been supporting organisations for the disadvantaged, disabled, vulnerable and elderly since it began in 1958 and particular focus is being placed on this category due to the current economic situation. Examples include £500k to Frontline, an innovative and new charity recruiting and training the highest calibre graduates to be social workers in complex child protection cases. £350k was also placed into the CAF Venturesome loan fund to support viable projects in the sector that are unable to access traditional loan finance. • Education: Grants in the education category encompass formal learning institutions such as schools and universities as well as museums and historical sites. Examples include £2million to the Mary Rose Trust to complete the major transformation of the museum and £500k to the Beamish Museum in the North East to create new learning exhibits. The University of Glasgow received £500k for new student facilities and £200k went to Coventry University for a new building for Science & Health. £260k went to Teach First for expansion into deprived coastal towns and £180k to the Maths Mastery programme in primary schools to support expansion into the North East over the next 3 years. • Community: This category is characterised by grants across all areas of the country, both rural and urban – examples include organisations such as Home-Start which provides trained volunteer support to families with young children who are struggling to cope. £750k went to Historic Royal Palaces for a 5-year community development programme in Northern Ireland to supplement an additional capital grant of £1.25million for Hillsborough Castle. £688k went to expand the Weston Charity Awards across the North in partnership with Pilotlight, providing 12 months of structured volunteer business mentoring to charities. • Youth: A wide range of grants have been made for projects involving children and young people across the UK – these organisations include Scouts, Guides and Cadet Forces along with play schemes, sports clubs and youth groups. Larger grants included Onside Youth Zone for a new youth centre in the Wirral (£500k) and core costs support for The Amber Foundation (£300k over 3 years) for their work with homeless and disadvantaged young people. • Health: In this category the Foundation focuses on translational work with direct patient benefit, on capital grants and on core costs for smaller charities supporting those with rare conditions. Examples of capital grants made in the past year include Cancer Research UK for the new Crick Institute (£1million), to Kidney Research UK for research over 3 years into donor tissue rejection (£500k) and to the Christie Hospital in Manchester for a new scanner (£250k). • Faith Communities: Over the past 12 months the Foundation has made over 370 grants to faith groups across Britain, helping them to maintain historic buildings and install vital facilities such as lavatories and kitchens for local community activities. £500k went to the Woolf Institute in Cambridge to support their inter-faith work between Jews, Muslims and Christians. Grants also supported some of the UK’s abbeys and cathedrals to support vital restoration work e.g. Bath Abbey (£250k) and Norwich Cathedral (£200k). • Environment: Grants in this category span a range of activity from conservation projects to education and research. Marine conservation in particular received a complementary series of grants including the Nekton Foundation (£500k) for research and to Blue Marine for core costs over 2 years. Northumberland Wildlife Trust received £150k for a new education and visitor centre. .
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