Philanthropists give £150k to Independent campaign as donation budget doubles

An extraordinarily generous donation has been made to The Independent’s Brick by Brick campaign from a trust renamed in honour of Julia Rausing, the wife of Tetra Pak heir and philanthropist Hans Rausing, who died earlier this year.

- ATHENA STAVROU

The gift of £150,000 from a new fund set up in her name will enable the campaign to help fund a second house for victims of domestic abuse.

The huge contribution towards The Independent and Refuge’s charitable appeal will be the first donation made by The Julia Rausing Trust since the charity’s new name was announced following her memorial service last month, with a mission to continue her philanthropic work.

In a move which stunned the charity world, the trust will now double its annual giving to UK causes to £100m a year from 2025. This will be one of the most generous acts of charitable giving ever seen in Britain.

The massive giveaway was announced just after the memorial to Ms Rausing, a former Christie’s art expert, who died aged 63 in April. She had been instrumental alongside her husband in giving tens of millions of pounds to charitable causes over the last 10 years.