About the Foundation

The Foundation makes grants towards charities and charitable projects within its three priority areas – to improve education, to promote the arts, and to combat the climate emergency.  While continuing to help to start up, or to be the catalyst for, new charitable projects which otherwise might not have been realised, the Foundation is also willing, where appropriate, to offer unrestricted support.  Mirroring the long-term thinking and investment strategy of AKO Capital, the Foundation aims to be a significant and reliable partner to its beneficiaries, and generally seeks multi-year relationships with them. 

The Foundation seeks to add value to its partners in ways beyond the purely financial.  For example, wherever appropriate it seeks to introduce grant recipients that have complementary interests to each other, for their mutual benefit; and AKO Capital staff are encouraged to volunteer their time and expertise with the Foundation’s beneficiaries. 

2021 was marked by a continuation of the global COVID-19 pandemic.  Wherever possible, the Foundation has responded to beneficiaries’ requests for flexibility in the timing or use of grants, in light of the difficult and unprecedented conditions in which many of them found themselves.  The Trustees again wish to pay tribute to all their beneficiaries for continuing to provide, and in many cases to enhance, the services they provide in these most challenging circumstances.

The Foundation takes pride in the leanness of its administration, which results in fast decision-making, and in the greatest possible proportion of its resources being available to support beneficiaries.  Our vision is to be recognised as a cost-effective and fast-moving organisation that stands out for its speed of decision-making.  At the same time, the Foundation continues to apply analytical rigour to ensuring that the impact of its grant-making is maximised.

The Foundation adopts a proactive approach to grant-making; accordingly, it does not seek applications for grants, and does not make grants in response to unsolicited applications. 

For more information about AKO Capital, please click here.

University of the Arts