The Gatsby Charitable Foundation

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The Gatsby Charitable Foundation (Charity no. 251988) is an endowed grant-making trust, where trustees can give money to any charitable cause. It was founded in 1967 by David Sainsbury.[1] It has strong links with the biotech industry and according to the foundations website it works in many areas including: plant science, neuroscience, education, Africa, public policy and the arts.[1] In July 1998 the trust provided the funds for the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit to be created at University College London (UCL).[2] The Gatsby Foundation also runs the Gatsby Plant Science summer school; an 'intensive week of talks from leading scientists, constructive careers sessions, eye-opening practicals and thought-provoking discussions with researchers and peers turns some of the UK’s brightest bioscience undergraduates on to a future in plant science'.[3]

Biotech

Through his Gatsby Charitable Foundation Lord Sainsbury has put millions into the study of plant genetics. Gatsby gives approximately £2 million a year to the Sainsbury Laboratory of the John Innes Centre, which does research into GM crops. [4] Lord Sainsbury helped found the Laboratory in 1987 and his Gatsby Foundation remains its principal source of funding, although it also receives over £800,000 a year from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) , for which Sainsbury is responsible in his ministerial role.[5] Its grant has increased several fold during Sainsbury's time as minister.

Like his biotech investments, his Gatsby contributions have been administered through a blind trust run by his solicitor Judith Portrait since Sainsbury became UK Science Minister. Portrait is also a Gatsby trustee. [6] Although he does not attend Gatsby meetings or make decisions, Sainsbury retains the power to appoint and dismiss its trustees.

Whilst Science Minister in 2000 Lord Sainsbury drew some criticism after stating he was in favour of therapeutic cloning (the cloning of human embryos which could allow scientists to create "spare parts" for the body). In an interview with The Telegraph he said "The important benefits which can come from this research outweigh any other considerations one might have - that would be my own personal ethical judgment".[7]

Political Donations

Lord Sainsbury has a long record of providing donations to political parties. In the 1980s, before he was Lord Sainsbury, he provided significant funding to the Social Democrats. Once Labour moved more towards the centre of the political spectrum, he began to provide financial help to the party. It is believed that in total he donated up to £16 million to the Labour Party since 1994, when Tony Blair became leader.[8][9] He was given his peerage in 1997 and became Government Minister for Science in 1998. [9]

People

List of key staff working at the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Correct as of 8 July 2016.[10]

Settlor

Trustee Board

Senior Advisors

Senior Staff

Staff

Grants given

Grant recipients of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation in £ sterling
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Total
2Blades Foundation 2,688,614 1,524,000 1,593,000 777,000 726,000 7,308,614
Aquifer 1,078,487 1,080,000 2,158,487
Ascona Meetings on Neuronal Circuits 68,820 68,820
Backstage Trust 1,000,000 1,000,000 2,500,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 8,500,000
Baker Dearing Educational Trust 150,000 400,000 550,000
British Neuroscience Association 295,000 150,000 445,000
Cambridge Arts Theatre 2,000,000 2,000,000
Cambridge Network 250,000 125,000 100,000 200,000 675,000
Cajal Advanced Neuroscience Training Programme AISBL 218,000 213,000 431,000
Centre for Cities 800,000 800,000 1,100,000 1,100,000 1,100,000 4,900,000
Chamber Orchestra of Europe 500,000 500,000 750,000 500,000 750,000 3,000,000
Columbia Univserity, New York 303,393 306,000 312,000 312,000 283,000 1,516,393
Cosyne 37,647 37,647
Engineering UK 50,000 75,000 75,000 75,000 275,000
Engineers in Business Fellowship 525,318 902,000 1,170,000 715,000 965,000 4,277,318
Federation of European Neurosciences 222,460 214,000 230,000 666,460
Gatsby Africa (GA) 9,500,000 15,338,000 15,500,000 14,500,000 15,182,000 70,020,000
Gatsby Technical Education Projects (GTEP) 2,988,000 353,000 3,359,000 1,617,000 8,317,000
Hebrew University of Jerusalem 250,000 215,000 345,000 304,000 283,000 1,397,000
Imperial College London 528,000 528,000
Institute for Government 3,836,702 4,063,000 4,447,000 4,746,000 4,577,000 21,669,702
king's College London 500,000 500,000
Mercatus Center 250,000 250,000
Multiple Sclerosis Society 100,000 100,000
National Emergencies Trust 1,000,000 1,000,000
National STEM Centre 245,000 164,000 409,000
New Philanthropy Capital 200,000 200,000
New York University - School of Medicine 274,734 150,000 148,000 572,734
Olive Luena Education Trust 100,000 100,000
Radboud University Medical Centre 2,055,000 1,434,000 1,640,000 5,129,000
Royal Academy of Music 5,500,000 6,000,000 11,500,000
Royal College of Psychiatrists 85,328 85,328
Royal Shakespeare Company 267,500 268,000 268,000 268,000 268,000 1,339,500
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts 910,000 706,000 937,000 700,000 712,000 3,965,000
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures 569,541 400,000 402,000 400,000 466,000 2,237,541
Sainsbury Laboratory - Norwich 2,850,000 2,820,000 3,845,000 3,370,000 3,145,000 16,030,000
Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas 250,000 250,000 225,000 225,000 225,000 1,175,000
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 90,000 90,000 180,000
Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS) and the Gatsby Plant Science Summer School 316,692 414,000 536,000 1,266,692
Society for Neuroscience 93,901 99,000 101,000 93,000 386,901
Stanford University 374,280 774,000 783,000 761,000 911,000 3,603,280
Theatre Development Trust 1,250,000 1,250,000
True Colours Trust 300,000 300,000
Trussell Trust 1,000,000 1,000,000
Unionlearn 19,065 19,065
University College London 15,054,843 8,753,000 2,386,000 3,449,000 9,377,000 39,019,843
University of Cambridge 9,025,000 9,101,000 9,246,000 8,541,000 9,437,000 45,350,000
University of Cambridge and Kings College, Cambridge 130,000 130,000
University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing 466,917 712,000 627,000 350,000 2,155,917
University of Oxford 531,699 474,000 352,000 232,000 196,000 1,785,699

Data sources

Affiliations

The Gatsby Charitable Foundation was a donor to the Science Media Centre between 2009 and 2014.[11]

Contact

The Peak, 5 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1AP
Tel: +44 (0)20 7410 0330 / Fax:+44 (0)20 7410 0332

See also

Resources

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 'About Gatsby', The Gatsby Charitable Foundation website, accessed 8 July 2016.
  2. The Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit - UCL, accessed 8 July 2016.
  3. 'Gatsby Plant Science summer school', Gatsby Charitable Foundation website, accessed 8 July 2016.
  4. 'Labour's Business Backers: Are They Ethical?', Friends of the Earth, accessed 8 July 2016.
  5. 'Lord Sainsbury Quits as Minister', BBC, accessed 8 July 2016.
  6. 'Report of the Directors', J Sainsbury plc. Retrieved via the Internet Archive of 26 February 2009 on 8 July 2016.
  7. Rachel Sylvester, 'Sainsbury's own brand - science and some Gatsby', 29 July 2000, accessed 8 July 2016.
  8. Profile: Lord Sainsbury, BBC, 8 September 1999, accessed 8 July 2016.
  9. 9.0 9.1 BBC, 'Lord Sainsbury Quits as Minister', BBC, 10 November 2006, accessed 8 July 2016.
  10. Key People, The Gatsby Charitable Foundation website, accessed 8 July 2016.
  11. Data from Internet Archive holdings of the Science Media Centre website, 2002-2014