Statement
On 31 May 2023 the Daily Telegraph published an extremely misleading article about our support to the UK’s migration sector.
Paul Hamlyn Foundation is an independent charitable funder; this means we use resources from the endowment left by our founder towards our vision of a just society where everyone, especially young people, can realise their full potential and enjoy fulfilling and creative lives. We make grants totalling around £40 million each year to individuals and organisations whose work aligns with our mission.
As a charity, all our grants support charitable activity with public benefit. For us, openness is key to building trust in us and in this work, so we are transparent about who we fund.
We have been an active supporter of organisations working with and for migrant and refugee communities in the UK for a number of years. Our approach focuses on working with partners who are building a world in which everyone is welcome and supported, no matter where they are from. This includes acknowledging how racism and colonialism have shaped our immigration system, and funding organisations that play the critical role of holding policy makers to account, using data and evidence to improve practice and campaigning for the issues that matter.
We will continue to work with them towards a society that is built on the principles of kindness, care and mutual respect. This means we will continue to be vocal in our opposition to the current hostile policy approach to immigration. We will use our resources and platform to support wonderful organisations that spend every day standing up for the rights of migrants and refugees, and in doing so, support us all.
Building on our value of collaboration, we often work in partnership with other trusts and foundations, local, regional and sometimes national government to achieve greater impact. The article highlights an example of this – a grant we received from the Big Lottery Fund (which distributed funds from the UK’s National Lottery to good causes – now known as the National Lottery Community Fund). This grant specifically supported the Act for Change Fund between 2018 and 2021, which did amazing work enabling young people to develop programmes about the issues that mattered most to them.