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abrdn Charitable Foundation

Powerful partnerships for tomorrow’s generation

abrdn Charitable Foundation

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:

  • People
    Our aim is to help break down barriers to education, employment, and financial wellness, with a key focus on social mobility.
  • Global reach
    Planet
    We 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 Partnerships
    We 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 Fund
    With 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 giving
    We 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 relief
    We 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.

Learn more in our guide for Powerful Partners (PDF)Opens in new window

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.

Learn more and apply for a small grant
People working on an allotment

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.

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).

Learn more and apply to the Innovation Fund
Employees participating in meeting

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.

Learn more in our guide for Powerful Partners (PDF) Opens in new window
Powerful partner logos

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.

Learn more in our guide for regional partners (PDF) Opens in new window
Regional partner logos

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.

Sarah Moody
Sarah Moody
Chair of abrdn Charitable Foundation
Nan Maguire
Nan Maguire
Director
Becky Nichols
Becky Nichols
Director
Keenan Fishwick
Keenan Fishwick
Director
Amali de Alwis
Amali de Alwis
Independent director
Dave Gorman
David Gorman
Independent director

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