What we support

Most of our giving supports people affected by dementia. We also back work on child welfare, learning disabilities, global health, and STEM education and entrepreneurship.

Dementia

Dementia is our main focus, and we support work on it from the laboratory through to everyday care and public policy.

We fund dementia research through Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK, supporting projects across the research pipeline, from science that helps us understand the causes of dementia through to diagnosis, treatment and care. We also support Rosetrees Trust, which funds medical research and builds long-term relationships with the researchers it backs.

We have funded research fellowships, PhD studentships and project grants at:

  • Imperial College London
  • King’s College London
  • St George’s, University of London
  • UCL
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Derby
  • University of Edinburgh

We have funded the Manchester Brain Health Centre, a pilot clinic that brings several specialisms and Brain Health Advisers together under one roof. It aims to give people with mild cognitive impairment and early symptoms of dementia a timely diagnosis, and to provide a model for other brain health clinics.

Closer to the people living with dementia, we support Music for my Mind, which uses personalised music playlists to improve the wellbeing of people living with memory loss or dementia and of their families and carers, and The Good Company People, which supports people living with dementia or social isolation, and their carers, in East Sussex.

We also support influencing and policy work on dementia, so that the needs of people affected by dementia are heard by government and other decision-makers.

Child welfare

We support charities that help children and young people, including Helping Herts, which brings local charities, businesses and communities together to support young people across Hertfordshire. Through the UBS Transform Collective we join other donors in working for children to grow up in safe and loving families.

Through the UBS Optimus Foundation we support Place2Be, the UK’s leading school-based mental health charity, which helps children, teachers and families overcome the effects of mental health problems on education. We also support Justice, Hope and Liberty, a collaboration between the Freedom Fund and Justice and Care that works with government, communities and survivors to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Bangladesh. In Chad, we support the child welfare work of Clear Solutions.

Learning disabilities

We support Grove Cottage, which runs a specialist nursery for pre-school children with learning disabilities and additional needs, along with clubs and services for children and adults.

In Indonesia, through the UBS Optimus Foundation, we support Perkins International in keeping children with disabilities with their families. Perkins is turning orphanages into local day programmes so that children with disabilities can stay at home and go to school.

Global health and development

We give to two funds run by Founders Pledge: the Catalytic Impact Fund, which makes grants to catalytic opportunities in global health and development, and the Rapid Response Fund, which fills urgent funding gaps left by cuts to foreign aid. We also help cover Founders Pledge’s own running costs through The Foundry, so that other members’ pledges can go straight to the charities they choose.

We also support work on health and economic empowerment, including Evidence Action’s in-line chlorination programme in India and RestoringVision, and scientific research at EvE Bio. We have also given humanitarian support through the UBS Ukraine Relief Fund.

STEM education and entrepreneurship

Through the UBS Optimus Foundation we support the STEM Venture Builder run by Ark, the education charity. It launches and grows new programmes that tackle problems in STEM education, and spins them out as independent charities. Its first venture provides postgraduate fellowships in mathematics for researchers from under-represented groups.

We also support Imagine Worldwide in bringing tablet-based learning to primary school children across Malawi. The programme is led by the Malawian government and aims to reach every child in grades 1 to 4.

Organisations we work with

Dementia

Philanthropy

Children and learning disabilities