Foreword

Paul Hamlyn was an entrepreneurial publisher and philanthropist, committed to providing new opportunities and experiences for the less fortunate members of society. From the outset his overriding concern was to open up the arts and education to everyone, but particularly to young people. In 1987 he established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation for general charitable purposes. Since then we have continuously supported charitable activity which has enabled individuals, particularly children and young people, to experience a better quality of life.

Paul Hamlyn died in August 2001, but the magnificent bequest of most of his estate to the Foundation enabled us to build on our past approaches. We produced a formal plan for the three years 2003-2006. We established, in partnership with other organisations, four special initiatives, and continued our main open and small grant programmes to meet general aims. We have achieved or are achieving most of what we set out to do.

Now we have set aims and objectives for the six years 2006-12. These will assist us to make an increasing difference to people’s lives, both during the period of the plan and after. We will substantially expand our work. As an independent, endowed foundation we will support work which others may find challenging or even unpopular or which requires longterm solutions.

The success of this plan will depend on the organisations and people with whom we work. Our most important partners are the institutions and individuals whom we fund and whose work results in a better quality of life for those they help. We will continue to collaborate with other organisations when this helps us meet our objectives. We also value the contribution of the people who work for the Foundation: staff, advisers, committee members and trustees.

We have set ourselves ambitious aims, and we will be working in sometimes difficult and often uncharted territory. The scale of the plan requires the Foundation to be transformed over the next few years. We have already experienced considerable change since 2001 and believe we have the skills and capacity to transform ourselves further to meet the objectives set out in this plan.

We thank all those who have generously given their time and ideas to help create this plan.

Jane Hamlyn, Chair

Robert Dufton, Director