The Wood Family Trust committed £2.4m to charitable projects around the world in its first year of operation.

Sir Ian Wood, chairman of the trust, revealed that £2.4m has been committed to 11 strategic investments. He said that it would have a measurable impact on over 130,000 young people in the UK.

The Trust’s grants include £372,670 for the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative in Scotland and £374,000 to a VSO Global Xchange programme between young Scots and Tanzanians.

Sir Ian said, “The development of a professional family foundation to invest in sustainable change is a challenging process.  Giving money to good causes is easy – giving it effectively is a completely different ball game.”

The trust was set up in March 2007 and aims to invest £50m over ten years in three areas: making markets work for the poor in sub-Saharan Africa; developing young people in Scotland; and volunteering overseas and global citizenship.