What we do

Living with dementia, or with someone who has it, is hard. Our trustees witnessed for themselves the life-changing effect music can have on managing dementia symptoms, reducing the need for medication and creating moments of joy and connection in the everyday. They decided that embedding music in dementia care would be the Foundation’s first mission.

We have invested over £5.5 million in grants and initiatives. £3.5 million has gone in grants to diverse projects including community choirs, playlist projects, dementia cafes, training carers, conferences, art exhibitions and concerts. Around £2 million has been invested in strategic work on awareness raising, policy development, capacity building and special projects such as award-winning m4dradio.com.

Collaboration has been key, and we have worked steadily to bring the once-fragmented music and dementia sector together to become greater than the sum of its parts, through the ILC Commission, the Music for Dementia campaign and now the Power of Music Consortium which is going from strength to strength.

From the start, trustees have wanted the Foundation to make a difference to the lives of veterans, especially those from the Special Forces. They are true heroes who deserve whatever is required to help them thrive in civilian life when their service is over, whether that is support with mental health, a leg up in a new career or practical assistance for their families.

We have learned a lot about the veterans sector since we began. It is large – about 1,700 charities with a combined income of about £1 billion a year, most of which goes to a small number of large organisations. In the last ten years we have supported a small number of organisations learning as we go.

Since 2015, we have distributed over £1.2 million and just over 90 grants to organisations supporting children and young people. Most projects have been here in the UK with a few grants supporting projects overseas. This is our second-highest area of grant-making.

We have supported a wide range of projects related to disabilities, child health, creative arts, play schemes, skills and confidence building, and bursary programmes for disadvantaged children and young people.

Over half of our grants have been to health and disability projects, including children’s hospitals, hospices, air ambulance services, cancer treatment and cleft lip surgeries. We’ve also helped organisations tackling difficult issues like knife crime and mental health