The Garfield Weston Foundation is a grant-giving charity based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1958 by Canadian businessman
W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), who during his lifetime contributed to numerous
humanitarian causes, both personally and through his companies. His philanthropic works continue through the Garfield Weston Foundation in London and the
Weston Family Foundation in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada.
The Garfield Weston Foundation is one of the
largest charitable foundations in the world, with assets of £9.7billion at 5 April 2017, of which a majority was attributed to the foundation's majority holding in
Wittington Investments.
Since Sir
Guy Weston's appointment as chairman, the Garfield Weston Foundation has become the largest family grant-making foundation in the UK, with total grants exceeding £1billion.
Chairmen
#
W. Garfield Weston (1958–1975)
#
Garry Weston (1975–2000)
#
Sir Guy Weston (since 2000)
Projects
The Garfield Weston Foundation gave
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
£25million for the refurbishment of the New Library (built originally in the 1930s as part of the
Bodleian Library), which re-opened to the public in March 2015 as the Weston Library.
The foundation has given grants to a number of schools, including St Michael's Primary School and Brackenbury Primary School for new classrooms and outdoor play areas for sport, and is a sponsor of Baker Dearing Educational Trust which promotes
university technical college
A university technical college (UTC) is a type of secondary school in England that is sponsored by a Universities in the United Kingdom, university and has close ties to local business and industry.
University technical colleges specialise in su ...
s.
In 2019 the foundation gave £5million towards the £31million restoration of the walled garden at
RHS Bridgewater in
Salford
Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...
, Greater Manchester.
Controversies over political donations
In 2010, the
Charity Commission found that between 1993 and 2004 the charity had given donations to the UK
Conservative Party that totalled £900,000, which were in breach of UK charity law; as were similar donations to the
economically liberal think tank the
Centre for Policy Studies
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a centre-right think tanks, think tank and advocacy group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," lo ...
, and to
Eurosceptic European political lobby groups such as the
European Foundation and the Labour Euro-Safeguards Campaign.
['']The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 12 April 2010
Westons breached charity law over Tory donations
/ref>
See also
* Garfield Weston Merit Scholarships for Colleges
* Weston family
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Educational foundations based in the United Kingdom
Foundations based in the United Kingdom
Foundation