Four British institutions to benefit from Brazilian philanthropist

Brazilian philanthropist Lily Safra has chosen four British organisations as well as 16 others across the world to benefit from an auction of 70 pieces of her jewellery collection at Christie’s in Geneva on 14 May. The auction is expected to raise $20m (£12.6m)

The four institutions set to benefit are the Royal Opera House, King's College London, the Elton John Aids Foundation and Imperial College London.

The widow of Brazilian banker Edmond Safra is estimated to be worth $1bn (£0.63bn). She is the founder of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. Since 1999 she has chaired the foundation, which supports projects related to education, science and medicine, religion, culture and humanitarian relief in over 50 countries.

 
Government gives £2m to local sports and cultural events scheme inspired by Olympics

The Office for Civil Society (OCS) has given £2m to a new community games scheme, which will support local groups organising sports and cultural events to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. The money has come from the OCS £20m Social Action Fund

The scheme will be run by YMCA England and the County Sports Partnership Network, which represents local groups working to increase participation in sports.

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd says: "Community Games will provide the help and support people need to organise a run, a triathlon or even a dance contest in their local area this summer. This is all part of our drive to create a bigger, stronger society where people are empowered to make a difference to their community."

Big Lottery Fund offers £29m to charities facing cuts

BIG is giving 217 of its grantees an extra year of funding to help them cope with a rise in demand for their services as a consequence of government cuts.

A further 600 projects have received grants of up to £10,000 to assist them in working on sustainable funding.

The funding is part of a £70m initiative, Supporting Change and Impact, which BIG announced last September in response to government cuts.

BIG’s England Committee chair Nat Sloane says: “It gives an extra year’s funding support to a number of organisations that we see are having a particularly significant impact on their beneficiaries. Importantly, it also gives groups some much needed time and space to plan for the future, and explore ways of making their projects more sustainable, whether that be developing more effective operating models, partnership working, or finding new ways to deliver activities in future.” 

As part of the £70m support package, BIG also added £25m to its two main open grants programme in England, Reaching Communities and Awards for All, to fund an additional 1,200 charitable and community projects, and has awarded almost £20m to partner organisations that distribute or manage funding on its behalf to further support their grant holders.