In 1967 David Sainsbury set up the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and agreed its first grant – £50 to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
David Sainsbury (now Lord Sainsbury of Turville) has since given Gatsby more than £1.7 billion to distribute to charitable causes.
Gatsby works in six focus areas that David Sainsbury and the Trustees are particularly passionate about and where they believe charity grants can make a real difference.
A vision for long-term sustainable change
We provide charitable grants across sectors, from supporting the provision of good career guidance for every young person in England, to advancing our knowledge about autistic spectrum disorder. We aim to be more than a funder, however. We often act as an enabler for projects, designing, developing, overseeing and, in some cases, delivering activities.
We are proactive in putting together projects to achieve our aims. Rather than wait for third-party proposals, we identify areas of need, commission research and design interventions in partnership with sector and industry experts.
We take a long-term view as we are driven by securing systemic change that is sustainable beyond the period of our funding and support. We build long relationships with the organisations we support, allowing both them and us to learn from successes and failures and to develop sustainable change.
Driven by innovation
We are particularly enthusiastic about supporting innovation. David Sainsbury has long believed that private foundations have an important role to play in testing imaginative models and new ideas that governments may see as too risky for public funding, even when they have significant potential to benefit the public if they succeed.
Gatsby can incubate such models, giving them the support they need to prove themselves and build the track-records that will encourage others to scale them up.
Education
The Gatsby Benchmarks
The Gatsby Benchmarks are an evidence-based framework that defines world-class careers guidance for young people.
Neuroscience
Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
We establish a new neuroscience research institute, where scientists use state-of-the-art techniques and theoretical models to investigate how circuits in the brain process information to guide behaviour.
Plant Science
The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL)
Gatsby's commitment to plant science has funded the building of two state-of-the-art research institutes focused on plant biology and microbial science
Africa
Building stronger and more inclusive economies
We are committed to sector transformation and helping change lives for the better in East Africa.
Public Policy
Babbage Policy Forum
We created a unique platform to generate new insights with the potential to underpin industrial policies for economic competitiveness and growth.
Arts
Royal Shakespeare Company
We help fund the Company’s Artist Development Programme, which builds cast and crew skills through training and extra rehearsal time, giving audiences a richer experience of Shakespeare’s work. We also support the Company’s archive and library.
Key People
David Sainsbury
SettlorJoseph Burns
TrusteeFran Perrin
TrusteeJudith Portrait
TrusteeLucy Sainsbury
Trustee
Senior staff
Peter Hesketh
Chief Executive OfficerJason Searancke
Head of FinanceJustin Highstead
Executive Director of Africa ProgrammesAlison Simmons
Head of Science PortfolioNigel Thomas
Executive Director of Education Programmes
Senior advisors
Sarah Caddick
NeuroscienceRoger Freedman
Plant Science