Reuben Foundation
The Reuben Foundation, formed in October 2002, is a UK-registered charity (Charity number: 1094130) that was created to channel the charitable giving of the Reuben Brothers. [1] The foundation states:
- Formed in 2002 with an initial endowment of $100 million, the Reuben Foundation is committed to the betterment of society in the UK and around the globe through focused charitable giving in the areas of education, health and the community.[2]
Recipients
The Foundation mostly gives donations to non political causes. In 2012 these included the following grants of £20,000 or more:
ARK UK Programmes | British Film Institute | Great Ormond Street Hospital | Kristal Waters | Nancy Reuben Primary School| NSPCC | Racing Welfare | Team London | UCL Development Prize Lecture | William J Clinton Foundation[3]
It has also funded the Community Security Trust (0 in 2007; £50,000 in 2008; £25,000 in 2009; £25,000 in 2010; £25,000 in 2011; £25,000 in 2012)[4]
Trustees
Grant Recipients
| Grant recipients of the Reuben Foundation in £ sterling | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organisation | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Total (£) |
| American School in London | 10,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | |||||||||||||
| ARK Schools | 80,000 | 125,000 | 125,000 | 225,000 | 135,000 | 690,000 | ||||||||||
| ARK UK Programmes | 20,000 | 20,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Art of Wishes | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Aspinall Foundation | 35,000 | 35,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Australia House | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Bede Foodbank | 11,184 | 11,184 | ||||||||||||||
| Boys Town Jerusalem | 12,601 | 12,601 | ||||||||||||||
| Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) | 7,500 | 7,500 | 15,000 | |||||||||||||
| British Academy of Film and Television Arts | 500,000 | 500,000 | 300,000 | 1,300,000 | ||||||||||||
| British Film Institute | 113,815 | 31,608 | 42,082 | 13,879 | 140,972 | 20,000 | 120,000 | 482,356 | ||||||||
| British Friends of Boys Town Jerusalem | 17,968 | 22,995 | 40,963 | |||||||||||||
| Cambridge University | 459,164 | 197,681 | 358,061 | 424,876 | 70,000 | 1,509,782 | ||||||||||
| Cancer Research | 6,750 | 706 | 7,000 | 14,456 | ||||||||||||
| Carers Trust | 20,000 | 10,000 | 10,250 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 70,250 | |||||||||
| Central Synagogue | 225,000 | 225,000 | 450,000 | |||||||||||||
| Centrepoint | 147,300 | 7,600 | 44,966 | 80,150 | 472,390 | 752,406 | ||||||||||
| Chain of Hope | 5,000 | 5,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Chelsea & Westminster Hospital | 3,000,000 | 3,000,000 | ||||||||||||||
| CLIC Sargent | 1,000 | 1,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Community Security Trust | 50,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 27,500 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 252,500 | ||||||
| Design Museum | 10,000 | 200,000 | 50,000 | 260,000 | ||||||||||||
| Diner des Tsars | 15,863 | 15,863 | ||||||||||||||
| Evening Standard Dispossed Fund | 50,000 | 50,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Fauna & Flora International | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Friends of Israel | 5,000 | 5,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Galilee Foundation | 25,000 | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Great Ormond Street Hospital | 1,025,000 | 39,612 | 25,300 | 11,000 | 12,000 | 500 | 33,400 | 35,000 | 1,181,812 | |||||||
| Greenhouse Sports | 25,000 | 30,000 | 55,000 | |||||||||||||
| Holocaust Educational Trust | 12,000 | 7,000 | 128,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 222,000 | |||||||||
| Illuminated River Foundation | 1,500,000 | 1,500,000 | 3,000,000 | |||||||||||||
| Injured Jockeys Fund | 133,500 | 9,320 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 158,820 | |||||||||||
| Israel Cancer Association | 35,395 | 142,787 | 178,182 | |||||||||||||
| Jerusalem Network | 25,000 | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Jewish Care | 10,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 140,000 | |||||
| Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation | 20,000 | 20,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Kristal Waters | 16,404 | 16,404 | ||||||||||||||
| Lamda | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Leuka | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| London Library | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Lyric Institute | 42,706 | 42,706 | ||||||||||||||
| Lyric Theatre | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Make A Wish Foundation | 14,000 | 2,500 | 10,000 | 26,500 | ||||||||||||
| Mayo Clinic | 7,975 | 3,934 | 11,605 | 7,879 | 7,768 | 7,310 | 46,471 | |||||||||
| Monaco Hospital | 21,186 | 21,186 | ||||||||||||||
| Nancy Reuben Primary School | 178,746 | 10,000 | 180,513 | 101,738 | 100,900 | 200,900 | 310,900 | 282,900 | 280,000 | 255,000 | 1,901,597 | |||||
| National Horse Racing College | 8,000 | 8,000 | 16,000 | |||||||||||||
| Natwest Bound Trust | 10,500 | 10,500 | ||||||||||||||
| New York Philharmonic | 19,735 | 19,735 | ||||||||||||||
| Northern Racing College | 8,000 | 16,000 | 16,000 | 16,000 | 56,000 | |||||||||||
| Norwood | 11,000 | 16,000 | 16,000 | 25,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 58,700 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 266,700 | ||||||
| NSPCC | 15,000 | 25,200 | 5,000 | 3,500 | 7,000 | 55,700 | ||||||||||
| OPR in the Community Trust | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Ormeley Dinner | 18,884 | 18,884 | ||||||||||||||
| Outward Bound Trust | 75,000 | 5,000 | 80,000 | |||||||||||||
| Princes Charities Foundation | 50,000 | 16,666 | 66,666 | |||||||||||||
| Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health | 10,400 | 10,400 | ||||||||||||||
| Princess Royal Trust Carers | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 40,000 | |||||||||||
| Racecourse Sanctuary | 5,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 | |||||||||||
| Racing Welfare | 20,000 | 20,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Red Cross Manchester | 100,000 | 100,000 | ||||||||||||||
| Room to Read UK | 20,500 | 20,500 | ||||||||||||||
| Royal Marsden / Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign | 10,000 | 58,943 | 1,000,550 | 1,069,493 | ||||||||||||
| Sephardic Academy of Manhattan | 1,323,821 | 1,323,821 | ||||||||||||||
| Serpentine Trust | 25,000 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 60,000 | ||||||||||||
| Simon Wiesenthal Center | 20,719 | 20,719 | ||||||||||||||
| Stelios Philantropic Foundation | 45,364 | 45,364 | ||||||||||||||
| Team London | 670,000 | 1,330,000 | 2,000,000 | |||||||||||||
| Tony Blair Foundation | 10,000 | 10,000 | ||||||||||||||
| UCL Development Prize Lecture | 12,500 | 50,000 | 62,500 | |||||||||||||
| Unicef | 13,668 | 13,668 | ||||||||||||||
| University College London | 50,000 | 50,000 | ||||||||||||||
| University of Oxford | 1,385,888 | 15,000 | 502,500 | 1,903,388 | ||||||||||||
| University of Oxford (Reuben College) | 30,000,000 | 1,457,500 | 31,457,500 | |||||||||||||
| University of Southern California | 8,236 | 8,236 | ||||||||||||||
| Wales Air Ambulance | 5,000 | 5,000 | ||||||||||||||
| William J Clinton Foundation | 33,112 | 33,112 | ||||||||||||||
| Yad Vashem Holocaust Marytrs & Heroes Remembrance Authority | 7,068 | 500 | 10,500 | 11,000 | 29,068 | |||||||||||
| Yorkshire Air Ambulance | 7,102 | 7,000 | 13,000 | 27,102 | ||||||||||||
| Other grants | 130,801 | 215,392 | 318,670 | 281,246 | 262,417 | 366,858 | 326,864 | 375,303 | 318,824 | 323,204 | 2,919,579 | |||||
Data compiled from Reuben Foundation Annual Accounts: 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021
The accounts for the years ended 2014-12-31 and 2015-12-31 were read from copies of the Charity Commission files held by the UK Government Web Archive.[6][7] The trustees named in the 2015 accounts are P O'Driscoll, J A Reuben, M R Turner, S D Reuben, A Benjamin, R Stone and D L Reuben. Total income was £4,201,674 in 2014 and £4,597,288 in 2015.[6][7] In 2015 the foundation was sole sponsor of the UJIA annual dinner, which, the trustees say, raised about £3.5 million "for UJIA's vital programs and projects in the UK and Israel".[7]
| Recipient | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| United Jewish Israel Appeal | 80,000 | |
| UK Friends of AWIS | 30,547 | |
| Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Machne Israel Fund | 10,000 |
Source: the grants note in the 2015 accounts (2014 figures are comparatives).[7]
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No grant in the 2014–2015 accounts is to an organisation located beyond the Green Line.[7] | Not established (2014–2015) |
Support for the IDF: £30,547 in 2014 to UK Friends of AWIS.[7][8] Grade: High, for the recipient's purpose.
Affiliations
- Lobbying and PR firm Luther Pendragon was retained by the Reuben brothers in 2014 for public affairs work
Support for the Israeli military
Grants. The foundation's grants notes name "The Association for Israel's Soldiers" – the Israeli Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers, which supports soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces – as a grant recipient: £1,425,032 in the year to 31 December 2023 (2022: nil)[9] and £2,193,000 in the year to 31 December 2024 (shown as £2,193k), the largest grant that year.[10] The accounts recognise grants when they are offered. These grants went to the Israeli body, not through UK Friends of AWIS, to which the foundation gave £30,547 in 2014.[7] The accounts for 2025 had not been filed by 20 October 2026.
Prior scrutiny. No Charity Commission inquiry or Official Warning, and no complaint or report by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, the Islamic Human Rights Commission or Declassified UK, concerning this charity's support for soldiers was found (checked October 2026).
See also
Notes
- ↑ 'The Reuben Foundation', Reuben Brothers website, accessed 12 May, 2009.
- ↑ Reuben Foundation About Us. Accessed 12 August 2014
- ↑ Reuben Foundation Trustees Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012.
- ↑ Data from successive Annual Report and Accounts submitted to the Charity Commission.
- ↑ Reuben Foundation, Extract from the Central Register of Charities maintained by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Reuben Foundation accounts, year ended 2014-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200103).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Reuben Foundation accounts, year ended 2015-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200103).
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract, governing-document row for charity 1084272 (UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers, working name "UK FRIENDS OF AWIS"), table dated 14 October 2026; its objects are "THE RELIEF OF NEED AND SUFFERING OF SERVING AND DISCHARGED ISRAELI SOLDIERS AND THEIR FAMILIES".
- ↑ Companies House, Reuben Foundation (company 04481304): group accounts made up to 31 December 2023 (filed 4 November 2024), note 9 "Grants payable", PDF p.28.
- ↑ Companies House, Reuben Foundation (company 04481304): group accounts made up to 31 December 2024 (filed 7 October 2025), note 8 "Analysis of grants", PDF p.30 (printed page 28).