Sigrid Rausing Trust
/OVERVIEW: The Sigrid Rausing Trust works globally to support human rights, the environment and “fairness and inclusion” for women, LGBTQ people, immigrants and refugees. A small portion of its grants also support human rights-related arts and culture projects.
IP TAKE: According to a statement on its history, the Sigrid Rausing Trust (SRT) is “keenly aware of the power imbalance between donors and grantees” and awards grants “in a spirit of solidarity and true co-operation.” Unlike many philanthropies in the human rights space, SRT’s grants mainly provide general operating support to smaller and medium-sized organizations. Grants are highly competitive, however, and the trust identifies its grantees through in-house research and “fieldwork.” Networking with staff, leadership or past grantees will be necessary here.
While the trust is not particularly accessible, it does invite potential grantees to reach out to research@srtrust.org to introduce themselves and describe their organization.
PROFILE: The Sigrid Rausing Trust (SRT) was established in 1995 by the anthropologist and publisher Sigrid Rausing. Rausing’s father, Hans Rausing, was an heir to the food packaging company Tetra Pak. Based in the United Kingdom, the trust’s purpose is “to promote the values and principles of human rights, equality and the rule of law, and to preserve nature from further degradation.” The trust was an early supporter of Human Rights Watch and supported the establishment of the International Criminal Court.
The trust’s three main grantmaking programs are Human Rights, Environment and Fairness and Inclusion. Other grantmaking programs include the Chair’s Fund, the Major Gifts Fund and the Trustees’ Small Grants Scheme. Grantmaking is global in scope, but the trust names “particular interest particular interest in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, North Africa and South Africa.”
Grants for Global Development, Security and Human Rights
SRT’s Human Rights grantmaking program supports “human rights and the rule of law, particularly in repressive or transitional societies.” The program names four areas of focus.
Strengthening the Human Rights Field is a subprogram dedicating to providing critical support to groups that are “playing a foundational or potentially foundational role in the human rights field in our focus regions.” Priorities for this grantmaking include broad collaborations, innovative methodology and programs and projects that “bring renewal to the field.” The trust also offers support to global organizations involved in building the capacity, technical capabilities and sustainability of organizations in individual countries.
Grantees of this subprogram include Serbia’s A 11 – Initiative for Economic and Social Rights, the African Legal Information Institute and Kyrgyzstan’s Adilet, a legal clinic that works to protect “the legal interests of vulnerable people through legal aid, monitoring, education and information campaigns.”
The Defending Civic Space subprogram “aims to advance freedoms of association, assembly and expression” in areas and countries experiencing repression. Specific interests include advocacy, litigation, independent journalism and protection for individuals and groups who may be at risk because of their involvement in human rights causes.
Grantees of this program include Civitates, a collaborative fund that works throughout Europe to protect civic spaces and promote democracy, and Citizen Lab, research program at the University of Toronto that works globally to study government censorship of digital communications.
SRT’s Torture and Arbitrary Detention subprogram funds “groups that work with and for victims of torture, including groups in which torture survivors themselves play a leading role.” In addition to rehabilitation services for victims, the fund has supported initiatives that aim to prevent torture and hold perpetrators accountable for human rights violations.
Recipients include Africa Criminal Justice Reform, the African Policing and Civilian Oversight Forum and Zimbabwe’s Counselling Services Unit.
Truth, Justice and Memory refers to the trust’s support for “truth-seeking, justice and memorialisation initiatives in the aftermath of grave and systematic human rights abuses.” Areas of focus include accountability, reparations and programs that encourage acknowledgement and reflection of past abuses. The trust also funds “peacebuilding and reconciliation” efforts, but limits grantmaking to organizations that are “non-partisan and committed to advancing a human rights culture.”
Trust, Justice and Memory grantees include Lebanon’s Act for the Disappeared, Colobia’s Equitas and Belgium’s Dawlaty, which engages “grassroots civil society to engage and shape the transition of Syria beyond the armed conflict.”
Grants for Environmental Conservation, Climate Change and Clean Energy
SRT names the Environment as a main giving area, but does not articulate a mission or purpose for its environmental giving. Grantmaking is organized in three subprograms.
Conservation giving supports on “the restoration and protection of ecosystems” and prioritizes vulnerable areas in the trust’s focus regions. Giving targets “long-term initiatives” with local engagement and leadership and demonstrable success in the field.
Conservation grants have gone to organizations including Croatia’s Association BIOM, the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia and the Estonian Fund for Nature.
SRT’s Environmental program also makes grants to support the Transparency and Accountability of governments and corporations with regard to climate change and other environmental concerns. The trust has supported approaches including litigation, journalism, advocacy for the strengthening of environmental standards.
Grantees include Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Centre, the U.K.’s CORE Coalition and South Africa’s Centre for Environmental Rights.
A third environmental subprogram is concerned with Toxics and Pollution. Grants focus on organizations that work to strengthen regulations relating to pollution and emissions, as well as those that work to restore ecosystems that have been degraded. An area of high interest is the issue of “systemic drivers of toxic pollution” and collaborations that work broadly to mitigate ongoing environmental harm.
Recipients of this subprogram include the Czech Republic’s Arnika Toxics and Waste Programme, Kenya’s Centre for Environmental Justice and Development and CHEM Trust, which works in the U.K. to increase regulatory limitations on the use and disposal of chemicals that cause health problems in humans and wildlife.
Grants for Women and Girls
The trust’s Fairness and Inclusion giving program names Women’s Rights as an area of focus. The foundation names the prevention of gender-based violence, reproductive rights and “initiatives working to strengthen and connect feminist movements” as priorities for its giving.
Women’s Right’s grantees include the Albanian Women’s Empowerment Network, the Anti-Violence Network of Georgia and Zimbabwe’s Emthonjeni Women’s Forum, among others.
Grants for LGBTQ Causes
LGBTI Rights is another focus area of the trust’s Fairness and Inclusion program. Working mainly in SRT’s stated focus regions, grants from this program work to “to improve the legal standing and social acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex people.”
In Romania, the trust has supported the ACCEPT Association, which provides advocacy, legal and psychological services to members of the LGBTQ community. Other grantees include the Campaign Against Homophobia in Poland, South Africa’s GALA Queer Archive and Hungary’s Hattar Society.
Grants for Immigrants and Refugees
The Migration and Inclusion subprogram focuses on “the human rights of stateless people, refugees and migrants in Europe.” Grants have supported a range of organizations and initiatives spanning policy development, advocacy and direct services for affected individuals and families.
Grantees include the Greek Council for Refugees, the European Network on Statelessness, the Border Violence Monitoring Network, the Asylum Support Appeals Project and Bulgaria’s Equal Opportunities Initiative.
Grants for Arts and Culture
SRT’s Fairness and Inclusion program earmarks funding for Arts programs that respond to, expand upon or challenge “questions of concern to the Trust, including human rights, gender, corruption, and conservation.” Participatory programs and those that “create bridges between local groups and international creative networks” are prioritized.
Past grants have supported the Arab Media Lab, France’s Atelier des Artistes en Exil, Kenya’s Book Bunk and Serbia’s No Borders Orchestra.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
In addition to its three main grantmaking areas, SRT runs the following programs:
The Chair’s Fund makes only a few grants each year in areas that fall outside of SRT’s main areas of focus but pertain to the trust’s “wider philanthropic remit.”
Grantees include Hostage International, the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and Turquoise Mountain, an Afghani organization working to “he sustainable development of the Afghan crafts industry.”
The Major Gifts Fund facilitates support for “capital or other significant projects with one-off or longer term larger grants.” This program has supported a collaborative effort between University College London’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the UK Dementia Research Institute for development and trials of “promising new genetic therapies for neurodegenerative and dementia-causing diseases like Alzheimer’s.”
The Trustees’ Small Grants Scheme enables SRT trustees to directly introduce grantees of interest to the trust for grant consideration. Recipients tend to be smaller organizations and may work outside of the trust’s main focus areas. More than half of the program’s recipients are U.K.-based organizations.
Past small grants have gone to the Yard Theatre, Highland Cycle Ability and the Amos Bursary, a rigorous academic program for outstanding students of African and Caribbean descent in the U.K.
Important Grant Details:
The majority of SRT grants range between £50,000 to £250,000.
Rather than funding specific projects, the fund prefers to cover operating costs.
The trust describes itself as “nonpartisan” and “expects the same” of its grantee partners.
Grantmaking is global in scope, but prioritizes “Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, North Africa and South Africa.”
Potential grantees are “identified through recommendations and fieldwork”; unsolicited proposals are not accepted.
Potential grantees may, however, reach out to the trust at research@srtrust.org to introduce themselves and describe their organization. According to SRT, emails are reviewed regularly, and the trust will contact groups that pique their interest.
For information about current and past grants, see the trust’s grants database.
General inquiries may be submitted to the trust via email at info@srtrust.org.
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