Sir Chris Hohn, Britain’s most generous philanthropist, has slammed government cuts to overseas aid as “cruel” after donating an additional $328 million (£243 million) of his personal wealth to help fill the gap.
The billionaire hedge fund manager, 58, made the contribution to his Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) in 2024, supplementing the $595 million invested by the charity from its $6.1 billion endowment. In total, CIFF committed $923 million to global projects last year.
Hohn said his increased giving was a direct response to reductions in international aid budgets. The UK cut its foreign aid commitment from 0.7 per cent of national income to 0.5 per cent in 2021 and plans to reduce it further to 0.3 per cent by 2027 in order to boost defence spending. In the US, President Trump dismantled the US Agency for International Development earlier this year.
“A lot of lives, maybe in the millions, have been lost because of these very cruel policies,” Hohn said. “The foundation is doing what we can to fill, in a small way, some of these enormous gaps.”
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
