The abrdn Charitable Foundation's Innovation Fund unveils grants
The abrdn Charitable Foundation’s Innovation Fund backs pioneering projects aimed at support young people in the UK and France to break down barriers to education and employment.
abrdn Charitable Foundation
Powerful partnerships for tomorrow’s generation
At abrdn, we connect people to opportunities, to their communities and to the natural world. We do this through employee engagement and building partnerships through our charitable giving strategy, governed through the abrdn Charitable Foundation, a registered charity in Scotland (SC042597).
Our charitable giving strategy
Tomorrow’s Generation – People and Planet
Our charitable giving strategy aims to help us create a positive social and environmental impact for tomorrow’s generation, within local communities and across the globe.
We partner with organisations which engage young people aged between 16-25, and align with one of our two overarching themes:
- PeopleOur aim is to help break down barriers to education, employment, and financial wellness, with a key focus on social mobility.
- PlanetWe work with organisations which protect nature and address the impacts of climate change.
Having a transformative impact
Through the abrdn Charitable Foundation, we take the following approaches to charitable giving:
- Powerful PartnershipsWe take a strategic approach to our Powerful Partnerships, and aim to support organisations and projects that can have a transformative impact for people and planet through multi year partnerships.
- Innovation FundWith our new Innovation Fund, we provide charities with small-medium sized grants to pilot projects linked to technology and innovation across all themes under People and Planet.
- Regional givingWe fund small regional grants that help make a difference to the communities we operate in. Our colleagues also have the opportunity to elect a charity partner for their region every 2 years which is led by our colleague forums.
- Emergency reliefWe support Disasters Emergency Committee appeals to raise funds when large-scale disasters hit countries without the capacity to respond.
Applying for funding
As part of abrdn Charitable Foundation’s giving strategy we fund charities and programmes that help make a difference to the communities in which we operate.
We take a strategic approach to selecting Powerful Partners, and these are not available for open application. Working with our external consultants we source potential partners from across the regions looking at this from a thematic and geographical perspective. These are typically significant multi-year grants to organisations and projects where our support can have a transformative impact. Our board considers and decides on partnerships that are aligned to our people and planet strategy in Q1 and Q3 each year.
Depending on the size and nature of the project, there are two open routes through which registered charities and non-profit organisations can apply for funding.
Regional small grants of up to £5,000
Each of the regions we operate in has funding to allocate to local causes, like foodbanks or hospices, that allow our colleagues to connect with the local community.
Registered charities and nonprofit community led organisations can apply for small grants of up to £5,000 (or local currency equivalent). Applications are open all year round.
Innovation Fund (grants up to £50,000)
The Innovation Fund (the Fund) is a new approach to funding (launched 2024) for the abrdn Charitable Foundation. Applications for the Innovation Fund are currently closed. For Q3-Q4 2024, the Fund was awarded to the Drive Forward Foundation in the UK and the Institut Louis Germain in France to launch pioneering projects aimed at helping young people achieve their potential.
The Fund aims to support small to medium-sized projects across the regions – UK, Americas, Asia and EMEA.
The Fund will support charities with the much-needed resources to pilot projects linked to technology and innovation across our strategic themes of People and Planet.
Registered charities, social enterprises, and other nonprofit organisations can apply for a grant of up to £50,000 (or local currency equivalent).
Our partnerships
We support a number of powerful and regional partnerships.
Powerful Partners
We take a strategic approach to selecting Powerful Partners, and these are not available for open application. Our board considers and decides on partnerships that are aligned to our people and planet strategy. These are typically significant multi-year grants to organisations and projects where our support can have a transformative impact.
Regional partners
In 2022 we asked our colleagues to vote for aligned charity partnerships across UK, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Americas.
We have established two-year partnerships with the selected charities which are aligned to our Tomorrow’s Generation strategy. Our funding supports projects that are aligned to our key areas under people and planet.
Our impact
We gather quarterly impact data from our partners based on inputs, outputs and depth of impact. This methodology is based on the Business for Social Impact (B4SI) Framework.
We monitor estimated aggregate impacts from our partnerships, with the goal of understanding how our contribution translates to sustainable outcomes for people and planet, as our areas of strategic focus.
Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
We require our strategic partners to outline project-specific objectives and to estimate the contribution of the project towards the SDGs. The illustration in the chart below relates to estimated SDG impacts relating to the 2023 financial year, applicable to around £1.5m of funding. Quality education (SDG 4) continues to be a common focus for our partners, with our partnerships with The Alan Turing Institute and UNESCO also contributing toward supporting Life on land (SDG 15).
abrdn Charitable Foundation Board
aCF’s Board of Directors has six members, including two independent Directors. The Board provides oversight and guidance for our charitable giving activities, meeting quarterly to review the impact of our partnerships and consider new partnerships aligned to our strategy.