Registered charitable institution (number 1161209)
EQ Investors Homepage

The EQ Foundation is a registered charitable institution that receives funding from the EQ Investors Group and other related parties.

Grant making approach

We make a small number of multi-year grants to institutions which meet the following criteria:

  • They should be of a size whereby our grant will have a meaningful impact but will not exceed 10% of the annual budget.
  • Quality of leadership is paramount and we will also expect a high standard of governance via the board.
  • The programmes must be able to demonstrate that they are achieving positive outcomes and that they deliver long lasting benefits.
  • We are particularly interested in programmes that improve social mobility and early intervention.

We are also interested in investment opportunities in social enterprises.

csj

Childhood Obesity & Poverty

The obesity crisis is gravely concerning, with one in four adults in the UK now classed as obese. Although this is a problem that is felt across the whole of society, it disproportionately affects the most disadvantaged. For example, the poorest 20% of children are nearly three times more likely to be obese than the richest 20%.

EQ has funded Off the Scales, a report by the Centre for Social Justice to understand the issues and recommend solutions.The report recommends a coherent approach by Government across all relevant policy areas and highlights the impressive results delivered by the Amsterdam Health Weight Programme.

Big Give

One Donation – Twice the Impact

Big Give has been a pioneer in attracting matched funding to charities. The 2017 Xmas Capaign – the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign – raised over £11 million. The EQ Foundation was delighted to support the following charities:

Forward
Breaking the cycle of addiction and crime by providing ex-offenders with the intensive support and aftercare needed to recover from substance misuse and develop the skills, confidence and aspirations to build a positive, sustainable, crime-free future and move forward with their lives.
Olmec
Step Ahead in Social Enterprise and Employment will offer business and mentoring to Black and Minority led Social enterprises that have begun trading to prepare them for growth, and a complimentary job coaching package for people new to our service who choose employment option over enterprise.
Opera
Empowering disadvantaged young people to thrive not just survive by providing practical and financial support to young people entering the workplace, the Opera Global Youth Foundation supports disadvantaged young people to find, gain and stay in work for 12 months or more.
Watts Gallery
Inspired by G F and Mary Watts’s passion for Art for All, the Big Issues Project reaches out to prisoners, young offenders, the homeless and those with poor mental health and addictions, to offer access to art, craft and design, personal transformation, the development of self-worth and new skills.
sutton

Improving Social Mobility

The Sutton Trust was founded by Sir Peter Lampl in 1997. It is a foundation which improves social mobility in the UK through evidence-based programmes, research and policy advocacy.

From early years’ through school, college and university to the workplace, Sutton works to combat educational inequality and prevent the subsequent waste of talent. They are concerned with breaking the link between educational opportunities and family background, so that young people are given the chance to fulfil their potential, regardless of their family background, school or where they live.

WLZ

Helping deprived children

West London Zone is a highly innovative organisation creating a partnership of local organisations all working towards the same goal: that children and young people grow up safe, happy and healthy.

They do this by helping charities, local authorities, schools and children’s centres deliver the best possible support to those children and young people who need it most. Over the next 10 years WLZ aims to have an impact on 13,000 children and young people across three square miles of inner West London, and change the life chances of the children in that zone for good.

The EQ Foundation is supporting a programme at Kensington Aldridge Academy.

Spear

Helping young people into work

Spear is a programme operated by Resurgo. It provides pre-employment training for young unemployed people, mainly in London, initially via a six week intensive course.

  • The course equips young people with the hard skills they need to find a job, including CV writing and interview training
  • It also tackles the attitudinal and behavioural issues that employers cite as major barriers to long-term success in their young recruits
  • Each Spear attendee leaves with increased confidence, skills to find work and a City & Guilds Level 1 Qualification in Customer Service.

EQ has been delighted to employ a number of Spear graduates and encourages other employers to do the same.

panathlon-logo

Sports days for disabled kids

The Panathlon Challenge provides sporting opportunities to over 7,500 disabled young people every year. Since 1999, they have run over 500 ‘mini Paralympic’ multi-sport competitions for secondary or primary school children, along with dedicated football, boccia and swimming programmes. Panathlon has also trained over 3,000 young leaders, aged 14-19, who act as sports officials for Panathlon competitions.

Helping under-privileged high flyers into university

The Access Project provides one on one tutoring via a group of volunteers to help highly able children achieve entry to Russell Group universities. In addition a dedicated member of The Access Project staff is based in school to deliver university support and enrichment activities, which equip students with the skills and information they need to win places at top universities. The results are impressive: more than 63% of Access Project students obtain places at leading universities compared with only 18% on average from the state sector and 48% from independent schools.

The EQ Foundation is funding programmes at Oasis Enfield Academy and Kensington Aldridge Academy.

APP

Education for prisoners and prison staff

The African Prisons Project (APP) was created by Alexander McLean, who comments:

“Initially I didn’t consider prisoners in Africa as particularly worthy of support. However, over the last seven years the men, women and children I have met in prisons all over the continent have challenged me and my beliefs. Almost all the people we meet in prison are poor, many of them are alone, less than one in ten will ever have access to a lawyer and many will wait in prison for five years or more without having a trial.”

Alexander is an extraordinarily inspirational leader as you can see from one of his TED talks