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A 60-year-old charitable foundation today announced that it will “dismantle and close” itself – and divvy out its £134m endowment fund among other organisations.
Lankelly Chase revealed the unexpected news this morning, saying it was part of the “traditional philanthropy model” that was entangled with “colonial capitalism”.
It said on its website that it wanted to take “bold action” to get money flowing freely to those doing “life-affirming social justice work”.
Lankelly Chase said it would, over the next five years, relinquish control of all its assets, including the endowment and other resources.
It said: “We have recognised the gravity of the interlocking social, climate and economic global crises we are experiencing today. At the same time, we view the traditional philanthropy model as so entangled with colonial capitalism that it inevitably continues the harms of the past into the present.
“We acknowledge our role in maintaining this traditional model and know that these times demand bold action from us all in charitable organisations. This is our response.”
The foundation added: “Over the next five years, we will dismantle and close Lankelly Chase. We will make space to reimagine how wealth, capital and social justice can co-exist in the service of all life, now and for future generations.”
While the majority of the decisions about new recipients will be made in the coming months, the organisation said it would give £8m to the Baobab Foundation, which “resources racial justice through Black and Global Majority communities”.
Lankelly Chase said: “Baobab Foundation has built a network of radical friendship and solidarity so that resources can move in ways that support freedom, justice and unity.
“In solidarity with their network, we will move £8m of our capital to Baobab Foundation. The ease of this decision has helped pave the way for the bolder step we have now taken.”
Lankelly Chase said the decision had been “shaped and guided by the work of many social justice leaders who have shown us that alternatives to traditional philanthropy are both possible and necessary”.
It added: “The ending of Lankelly Chase will undoubtedly be experienced as a loss by some and we feel that strongly. We will shape this process with care and responsibility, especially for those whose work, insights and allyship have allowed us to understand the need for this approach.”
The organisation said it would honour all existing grant agreements and contracts.
It went on: “We know not everyone will agree with this decision and we are not saying every endowed foundation should follow our direction.
“However, we believe that the case for profound change is now impossible to ignore, and each of us must find our answer. This is ours.”