Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
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| Founded | September 1997 |
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Area served
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United Kingdom and Overseas |
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was an independent grant-giving foundation established in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to continue her humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas. It was a registered charity under English law. The Fund closed at the end of 2012.
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (‘the Fund’) was established within days of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997, in response to the donations that poured into Kensington Palace. The general public, community groups and companies donated some £34 million. £38 million was generously donated from sales of Sir Elton John and PolyGram's CD of "Candle in the Wind 1997". A further £66 million was subsequently raised through investments, an eight-year programme of commercial partnerships, and proceeds from the exhibition, Diana: A Celebration, donated by Lord Spencer.
During its fifteen years of operation, the Fund worked to secure sustainable improvements in the lives of the most disadvantaged people in the UK and around the world by giving grants, championing causes and lending the Fund’s name and profile to charitable causes.
For its first ten years, 1997-2006, the Fund was largely a criteria-led grantmaker. Grant programmes were devised and developed on an annual basis and were open to any eligible organisation that wished to apply. During this period, the Fund spent over £60 million on helping improve the lives of displaced people, people at the margins of society, survivors of conflict and those who were dying on bereaved.
In 2006, following a consultation with the voluntary sector and a period of strategic review, the Fund decided that it would be most effective if its remaining capital was focused on a time-limited, targeted programme of work. The decision to cease operating within five-to-nine years was announced in 2007 at the launch of a new five-year Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan set out a number of proactive grantmaking programmes, called Initiatives, which were:
Each Initiative set out to create sustainable change in their areas of focus by securing positive improvements in policy, practice and public attitudes. This systems-change approach was adopted both to establish a momentum for long-term social change and to ensure that any positive improvements secured would last for far longer that the Fund’s lifetime and continue to help future generations to come.
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