Who We Are

Pears Foundation is the philanthropic foundation of the Pears family, who have given more than £450m to charity since the Foundation was established. We focus on building long-term relationships with our partners, providing core funding and offering more than money through our organisational and leadership development programmes. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate our vision of good philanthropy and the value of leading by example.

Our history

Pears Foundation was established by Mark, Trevor and David Pears, all of whom serve as its Trustees. Their purpose was to apply some of the resources of their family’s business, the William Pears Group, to fund organisations and projects working to deliver progress on key issues affecting the wellbeing of people in the UK and all over the world.

Sir Trevor Pears is the Foundation’s full time Executive Chair; he continues his involvement in the family business but his primary professional role is to lead the Foundation and develop the Pears family’s philanthropy.

Our values

Passion

We are united by an urgent drive to deliver real change. We share a deep commitment to, and enthusiasm for, our partners and the causes we care about.

Professionalism

We approach philanthropy with an optimistic realism and our team is dedicated to learning and improving. We expect professionalism from our partners and will support them to be effective in their fields.

Integrity

We will always provide the funding and support that is most needed. Whether it’s core funding or high risk projects; we will be there for real, not for show. Our relationships are built on trust and commitments and all of our partners are entitled to honesty, transparency and fair dealing.

Our vision

Pears Foundation will be a transformative force, working for social justice through effective philanthropy.

Empowering a global community of organisations and individuals, providing leadership and resources to break down the barriers to progress.

Inspiring others to engage and multiplying our impact by enabling people to become active citizens.

Creating spaces for passionate people to develop their ideas and apply their talents for the good of everyone.

Our mission

We will commit the resources of our founders and the energy of our team to making people’s lives better through our partners and their programmes.

We will facilitate thought leadership, research and collaboration to promote genuine advances in the understanding of complex issues.

We will drive engagement, offering guidance and motivation to bring more people to active citizenship, whatever their background and whatever the role they are able to play.

We will focus, not on our activities, or ourselves but on the impact we and our partners can have on the people who most need us and their long-term wellbeing.

We will act in all our endeavours with the passion, professionalism and integrity that our partners deserve, ultimately creating a lasting legacy of effective philanthropy for our family, our staff and our community.