Tetra Pak heir’s £8m to save youth centres: Hans Rausing and his wife make huge donation to prevent closures of clubs for young people
- Hans and Julia Rausing gave £8million to save youth centres from closure
- The Government announced a Youth Covid-19 Support Fund in November
- Youth charities across country have suffered financial hits during the lockdowns
Philanthropists Hans and Julia Rausing yesterday gave £8 million to save youth centres from permanent closure due to the pandemic.
Youth charities across the country have suffered financial hits during the lockdowns, with studies showing that half of them will be unable to meet operational costs within 12 months.
The Government announced a Youth Covid-19 Support Fund in November to provide £16.5 million of support, but this ended last month.
Hans and Julia Rausing (pictured) gave £8 million to save youth centres from permanent closure due to the pandemic
Mr and Mrs Rausing already among Britain’s most generous philanthropists, have now set up the Youth Centre Recovery Fund, which is open for applications from registered charities that run youth centres in England.
Mr Rausing, 57, whose grandfather Ruben founded packaging firm Tetra Pak, said: ‘We hope the Youth Centre Recovery Fund will go some way towards supporting these important institutions to the benefit of the next generation.’
Mr and Mrs Rausing’s aim is to ensure that youth centres remain viable and are able to re-open and continue to deliver much needed services to meet the increased demand from young people, as the country emerges from Covid-19 restrictions.
The Youth Centre Recovery Fund follows £2.5million in donations by Mr and Mrs Rausing in youth related charities since the start of this year, including Greenhouse Sports – a London-based charity which uses sport to help young people living in the inner city to realise their full potential – and The Prince’s Trust Women Supporting Women initiative.
Mr Rausing, 57, whose grandfather Ruben (pictured) founded packaging firm Tetra Pak, and his wife and among among Britain’s most generous philanthropists
This will be the second time that the Rausings have run an open application programme. Their inaugural venture into this method of grant-making was the Charity Survival Fund in 2020, which delivered an amazing £18million to 329 charities.
That figure was in addition to the £16.5million emergency funding the couple donated in March and April last year for other Covid-19 causes, including £1 million for the Mail Force campaign set up by this newspaper to provide PPE to NHS frontline staff.
Full details of eligibility for the Youth Centre Recovery Fund are available at https://www.juliahansrausingtrust.org