What UK Foundations Do and How They’re Regulated in 2025

You see the results of foundations all the time, often without seeing the cheque. If you’ve used a community space, joined a youth club, or read research that nudged a law to change, a foundation probably backed it. In a recent speech published on GOV.UK, the Charity Commission for England and Wales set out what foundations are for, how they are regulated, and why patience is their superpower. Let’s turn that into plain, practical English so you can spot good practice-and take part.

First principle: a foundation is usually a grant‑making charity. It holds money-often an endowment invested for the long term-and gives grants to organisations or projects that match its charitable purposes. Most UK foundations are registered charities, which means trustees must follow charity law and the Charity Commission regulates them. Each foundation’s objects (its stated purposes) are the legal compass for every decision. What this means: if you apply for a grant, start by reading a foundation’s objects; if you are a trustee, keep those objects in view for every funding choice.

The wider context matters. According to the Commission’s recent data, the charity sector manages around £100 billion a year. That headline figure hides big differences between organisations, and many are serving far more people than before-three times as many compared with five years ago-while feeling sharper financial pressure. The Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) also reports that applications to some funders have surged by 100–400 percent. Demand is high, and it changes how funders read proposals.

Today’s pressures are not just financial. We are living with louder polarisation, culture‑war arguments that swap listening for anger, and a step‑change in technology. Artificial intelligence tools are already writing some funding bids. The Commission says it is seeing AI‑generated applications too, which brings both speed and risk-plausible words do not guarantee evidence or impact. What this means: if you use AI to draft, fact‑check and cite; if you assess bids, ask for data, methods and learning plans, not just neat phrasing.

Demographics are shifting as well. Some areas are ageing; others are growing more diverse; expectations around participation, transparency and accountability rise with each generation. Funders are being asked to show their working, not only their outcomes. When you sit on a board, notice who gets to speak, who benefits, and who is missing from the room-then adjust how you make and test decisions.

Here’s an image from the Commission that’s worth keeping: think of foundations as ancient oaks. They grow slowly. Their roots run deep-drawing on resources others cannot reach-and they shelter communities when a storm hits. In practice, that depth looks like patient money, independent judgement and the option to fund ideas that might take years to prove. What this means: foundations can work on root causes, not just symptoms; they can back research, infrastructure and unpopular issues because they are not chasing this quarter’s numbers.

A clear example is the repeal of the Vagrancy Act, the 19th‑century law that criminalised rough sleeping and begging. Change took sustained research, advocacy and coalition‑building over many years and across governments. Foundations helped hold that line-funding evidence, supporting organisations, and staying with the goal long enough for Parliament to move. If you want to see patient funding in action, start here.

Scale matters too. The Commission highlights that foundations spent over £8.2 billion last year across many causes. The London Marathon Foundation supported projects that helped more than 560,000 children and young people get active, tackling inactivity early. The Oceans Family Foundation backed marine conservation, including beach cleans on Solent shores that removed hundreds of kilos of waste. The Road Safety Trust awarded over £2.2 million, including support for virtual‑reality hazard tests for tractor drivers to prevent collisions. The thread running through these examples is prevention-fixing problems at source.

Behind those cheques is a decision that pushes against short‑term thinking: set aside resources for public benefit you may never see. That is why the speech returns to three words-purpose, patience, possibility. Purpose gives direction-the legal objects. Patience gives time-so learning, failure and course‑correction are possible. Possibility is what opens when you combine both with evidence and care.

There is also a live debate about ‘democratising’ foundations-shifting power to communities, redesigning governance and flattening hierarchies. The Commission’s message is supportive of engagement but careful about erasing the very roots that make long‑term work possible. Talk to people affected, embed lived experience, redesign where it improves decisions-but test every change against your charitable purposes and your duty to both today’s and tomorrow’s beneficiaries.

So what does regulation look like in practice? The Charity Commission balances two roles: it is a robust regulator and, by its own account, an enabling one. It issues guidance to help trustees decide well-its donations guidance, for example, says the starting point should be to accept donations, aiming to give philanthropists confidence that lawful gifts will not be turned away. It also convenes useful conversations and defends charities’ right to operate within the law, even when their work is contested.

One case the Commission points to involved permission work that allowed a major collection of Chinese ceramics to be given to the British Museum while preserving the donor foundation’s original intent and the public benefit. The lesson is the key thing: modernise when it helps your purpose; document your reasoning; keep the objects in sight. If you do that, the regulator’s role is to support and, where needed, to approve changes that still honour intent.

Collaboration strengthens the forest. Scientists tell us trees share nutrients through underground fungal networks; in our sector, that looks like partnerships between funders, local groups, councils and campaigners, and also the quieter exchange of notes on what worked, what did not, and why. You will not always see that network, but you can contribute to it by sharing learning and funding others to learn.

If you are applying for a grant, start with alignment: show clearly how your work meets a foundation’s objects, build a realistic budget, and explain how you will learn. If you are a trustee, record decisions, show how you weighed risks and benefits, and plan for the long term. If you teach or study, use foundation reports as case studies in public problem‑solving-they are rich with methods and data you can test.

Finally, three words from the speech double as a checklist we can all use. Resilient means deep roots and steady governance. Relevant means staying true to purpose while adapting to context. Ready means using your freedom and evidence to act. Hold those together and foundations can do what few others can: invest in change that outlasts us.

When we treat foundations as long‑lived oaks-not fragile saplings-we set expectations properly. We ask for learning, not miracles; for consistency, not fashion; for fairness, not favour. That is how purpose and patience turn into possibility-for the communities we belong to now, and for the ones who will stand in the shade later.