The Donald Gordon Second Foundation

Analysis

The Donald Gordon Second Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in London. It was registered in February 2008, 18 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, the advancement of health or saving of lives and arts/culture/heritage/science, which this site groups under health and saving lives. Legally it is a charitable trust. It says it makes grants to organisations.

In the financial year ending February 2025, The Donald Gordon Second Foundation reported income of £3.2m and spending of £2.1m, leaving 35% of income unspent that year. Across the 5 years on record, from February 2021 to February 2025, income grew from £5,983 to £3.2m (+53837%), an average of +382% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to February 2023, when income rose by 3745370%. Over the whole period it spent 6.3% of the income it received.

Among 24,651 England and Wales charities whose main cause is health and saving lives and that reported income, The Donald Gordon Second Foundation sits at the 95th percentile: it is larger than about 95% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 97th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include The Federation of European Microbiological Societies (£3.2m), Tottenham Hotspur Foundation (£3.2m) and The Mayhew Home (£3.2m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from investments 85% and donations and legacies 15%. Gifts in wills alone brought in £488k. Charitable activities took 81% of spending and raising funds 0.0%. Grants to other organisations totalled £1.6m. Reserves of £99.9m would cover about 464 months of spending at that rate.