The Foundation believes that education is the key to a successful future both for individuals and for societies as a whole, and thus supports educational projects in both developing and developed regions of the world.
In developing countries, the Foundation’s approach is not to select specific countries in which to operate; rather, it supports trusted partners in their work, enabling them to use their local knowledge, expertise, and networks to judge where an intervention will have the greatest, or most widespread, impact. A number of large-scale studies have demonstrated the substantial positive social, economic and environmental impacts of giving girls, who would otherwise be disadvantaged or excluded, access to a good education; the Trustees therefore have a particular interest in this area.
AKO Foundation support since 2019
CAMFED tackles poverty and inequality through education, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. It supports marginalised girls and young women to attend school, to succeed academically, and then, as young women, to realise their potential to be leaders of change. In its 30-year history, CAMFED has helped more than 6.5 million children in Malawi, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Furthermore, its alumni association (CAMA) is the largest and fastest growing network of educated young women in Africa – currently with more than 254,000 members. Each member of the network is, on average and voluntarily, financially supporting another three girls to go to school, thereby changing the future for whole communities.
AKO Foundation support since 2019
Educate Girls is committed to the Indian Government’s vision to improve access to primary education for children, especially young girls. It helps to identify, enrol and retain out-of-school girls and to improve foundational skills in literacy and numeracy for all children (both girls and boys). The Foundation has joined a collaborative funding initiative, together with a group of other prominent philanthropists, to support a project that aims to enrol 1.6 million girls back into school, and to achieve sustainable improvements in learning outcomes within the school system.
AKO Foundation support since 2023
Global Schools Forum (GSF) is a collaborative community, innovation accelerator, and partnership builder for non-state organisations working to improve education outcomes at scale for underserved children in low and middle income countries. The community currently includes 111 organisations across 60 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia and Latin America that collectively run or support over 230,000 schools and centres providing education to almost 20 million children and young people. The Foundation is one of a small group of major funders supporting the Impact at Scale Lab programme, GSF’s innovation accelerator. The Lab seeks to transform education systems by intensively working alongside local innovators to scale solutions. This is achieved by carefully selecting promising solutions and driving funding and significant, specialised technical support to them. In addition, the Lab programme generates and amplifies evidence and best practice from practitioners on what works effectively to achieve scale.
AKO Foundation support since 2018
The Little Sun Foundation was co-founded by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. Little Sun creates solar-powered hand-held lamps, designed by Eliasson; they can be charged during the day and allow work to be undertaken during hours of darkness. The solar lamps thus provide significant health, educational and economic benefits, as they replace harmful kerosene lamps and expensive torches. The Foundation’s support enables Little Sun to distribute solar lamps to students in rural areas of several African countries.
AKO Foundation support since 2017
Lively Minds works in remote rural villages in Africa and trains ‘Volunteer Mothers’ to run informal, free play schemes for all pre-school children in their villages. The Volunteer Mothers are also given monthly parenting workshops to help them provide better care at home. The Foundation supports Lively Minds’ work in both Ghana and Uganda.
AKO Foundation support since 2018
A Norwegian non-profit organisation, Partnership for Change works for the economic independence of women in Ethiopia and Myanmar. As in many developing countries, girls – particularly in rural communities – face obstacles in accessing formal education. To address this inequality and the unmet educational needs of such girls, the Foundation is funding an intensive programme of financial support and academic and life skills training in rural Ethiopia to prevent girls from deprived backgrounds from dropping out of high school.
AKO Foundation support since 2022
Pratham, one of two NGOs working in India for which the Foundation initiated support during 2022, conducts high-quality, low-cost, replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system, most notably through its Teaching at the Right Level programme. This teaches literacy and numeracy at the level appropriate to a child’s educational attainment, rather than chronological age.
AKO Foundation support since 2013
Strømme Foundation (Strømmestiftelsen) is a Norwegian development organisation that uses education to pursue its mission of creating a world free from poverty. Its approach is holistic; in its support for children, adolescents and their families within selected communities, Strømme invariably works with and through local delivery partners, thereby strengthening sustainability and maximising impact. The Foundation supports a number of strands of Strømme’s work, including activities in Nepal, Uganda, and West Africa.
AKO Foundation support since 2022
Teach for India’s core activity is not dissimilar to those of Teach First (see below) in the UK or Teach for America: college graduates (and others) undergo intensive training followed by a commitment to (at least) 2 years of teaching. Currently 1,000 ‘Fellows’ are actively teaching; there are around 4,000 ex-Fellows, three-quarters of whom have remained in the education sector in India. The Foundation has made an unrestricted grant.
AKO Foundation support since 2020
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is the world’s largest voluntary movement dedicated to girls and young women. It brings together 153 national Guiding Associations who represent 8.8 million girls and young women across the world. For more than 100 years, Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting has helped girls to develop the skills and confidence they need to achieve their fullest potential and to make positive changes to their lives, their communities and countries. This is achieved through non-formal education programmes, leadership development, advocacy and community action.
AKO Foundation support since 2015
Ark seeks to transform the lives of under-privileged children by providing a great education, with a core focus on the school: it runs around three dozen Academy schools, at both primary and secondary levels, typically in areas of economic deprivation with a history of educational underachievement. Ark also creates and incubates ventures designed not only to help pupils in Ark schools, but also to improve education systems as a whole, both in the UK and overseas.
AKO Foundation support since 2021
Provides online mentoring, raising aspirations in school, supporting students in higher education, providing insights into careers, and learning skills for work. Brightside has mentored over 100,000 young people since 2003.
AKO Foundation support since 2019
The ‘Scholars Programme’, now largely delivered online, recruits, trains and places PhD researchers to deliver university-style courses, based on their research, to small groups of pupils aged 9-17. This charity was introduced to the Foundation by an analyst at AKO Capital who served as a trustee of The Brilliant Club.
AKO Foundation support since 2022
Without a GCSE in Maths or English, a person’s life chances are severely impaired, with opportunities in both education and employment heavily restricted. Get Further employs specialist tutors to assist students who have not yet obtained a pass grade in GCSE Maths and / or English, but who have moved into further education, to do so.
AKO Foundation support since 2020
Introduced to the Foundation through the Give Back programme, Generating Genius works with talented and able students, primarily from BAME backgrounds, to enable them to gain a place to study STEM subjects at leading universities, and then to excel in STEM-related careers.
AKO Foundation support since 2021
‘What works’ in education is not an easy question to answer. Using robust research methodologies to make evaluation quicker, easier and more effective, ImpactEd supports schools and education organisations, including some of the charities supported by the Foundation, to evaluate their impact, to learn from it, and to prioritise what works best in improving outcomes for young people.
AKO Foundation support since 2022
IntoUniversity works with schools, universities and communities to provide local learning centres across England, Wales and Scotland where young people, aged 7 and above, are offered both tuition and also the tailored support and advice regarding educational pathways which is readily available in more affluent homes.
AKO Foundation support since 2016
The AKO Foundation has pledged a £1 million gift to establish a programme of 30 scholarships for master’s students from under-represented backgrounds in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Sciences. Over a three-year period, beginning in the 2024/25 academic year, the AKO Masters Scholarship will fund six full scholarships for candidates from the Global South, and 24 scholarships open to all applicants that will cover full tuition fees. The Department of Psychological and Behavioural Sciences is focused on understanding human behaviour on an individual, group, organisational or national scale, and how using these insights can help to create a stronger, fairer and more sustainable world. The scholarships will be available across all five of the Department’s MSc programmes, which provide in-depth training in areas such as how to change human behaviour in corporate and public environments, how performance and well-being can be shaped by the interface between social psychological processes and organisational systems, and how communication can affect the conduct of everyday public and private life.
AKO Foundation support since 2018
Now Teach recruits and supports high calibre, experienced professionals who have already had at least one successful career. Working in challenging schools across the country, they not only increase teaching capacity, but also bring vital links to employers, universities and other post-school options.
AKO Foundation support since 2022
Place2Be is a children’s mental health charity with over 25 years’ experience working with pupils, families and staff in UK schools. It provides mental health support in schools through one-to-one and group counselling; and offers expert training and professional qualifications.
The Foundation’s Trustees are increasingly aware that good mental health is often a prerequisite for successful teaching and learning.
AKO Foundation support since 2014
Founded as a vehicle for the temporary recruitment into the teaching profession of graduates who might not have considered a permanent teaching career, Teach First now aims to improve educational attainment in disadvantaged communities through a range of programmes, including teacher training, improving school leadership, and the creation of networks among schools and school leaders.
AKO Foundation support since 2017
Offering courses in arts, design, fashion and communication, and attended by over 19,000 students from more than 130 countries, University of the Arts London (UAL) is Europe’s largest specialist arts and design university. In recent years, UAL has established a new model of academic delivery, UAL Institutes, which overlay UAL’s six art and design colleges. Having previously provided seed funding for two of these – the Creative Computing Institute, and the Social Design Institute – the Foundation has more recently worked with UAL to establish the AKO Storytelling Institute. It is intended that this will become an influential academic leader in a wide range of narrative disciplines, while also enhancing UAL’s public programme and audience engagement.
AKO Foundation support since 2013
The Foundation has an ongoing relationship with the internationally renowned Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The Foundation, and Nicolai Tangen privately, have endowed undergraduate scholarships to support more than 20 international students at any one time who would otherwise be unable to meet the cost of their education. The scholarships benefit the individual recipients and, due to the recipients’ global background and international perspective, enrich the student community. Their education will also benefit the communities and organisations they go on to lead after graduating. The Foundation previously made a major grant to spearhead construction of a new campus building, Tangen Hall, which opened in 2021. This provides a space dedicated to cross-campus student entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania.