To leave the world – and the Haberdasher family – a bit better

Affecting change through a gift in your Will

‘To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – that is to have succeeded’.

Your giving to the Haberdashers’ Foundation can be transformational. Whether by regular giving, or a gift left in your will, the Company has ambitions to leave it in a better situation than we found it.

‘To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – that is to have succeeded’.

The words of 19th Century essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson are an inspiring way of thinking about the value of giving to the Haberdashers’ Foundation.

All of us who enter the Company are welcomed into an organisation that – for the past 750 years or so – has been a careful steward of the resources left to it by past benefactors. These resources have been transformational and continue to be so.

But what if there were more resources? More opportunities to leave the world (the Habs world) a bit better? More pupils, more schools, more communities that could benefit from being supported as part of the wider Haberdashers’ family?

Trotman’s legacy

361 years ago, a man called Throckmorton Trotman left a sum of money in his will to the Company. His name – you may have passed it by without noticing – is on the list of benefactors as you enter the Hall.

In July 2024 the gift left by Trotman had significant 21st Century impact. Alice, a young alumnus of Hatcham College, from a low-income family, received a grant from the Trotman fund towards her master’s in forensic psychology at the University of Greenwich. As well as this support, she also benefitted from a Haberdashers’ university scholarship over the duration of her undergraduate degree in Forensic Psychology at Coventry University.

This is a modest yet significant example of the way in which the history and heritage of the Company reaches into its current work and philanthropy.

Habs Aspire

Funds from the Haberdashers’ Foundation have recently been awarded as a multi-year commitment to support the first three years of the Habs Aspire mentoring programme. This seed funding will prove transformational for the young people across the Company’s schools who access the mentoring programme.

To be part of this continuum of history, there are two opportunities for you to consider:

Habs 1448 Club

Many Haberdashers have given faithfully to the Foundation for a number of years through Habs 1448, formerly the 1448 Club. Giving regularly – along with other members – serves to increase the endowment of the Foundation and in time, to facilitate a growth in our grant-making capacity.

We invite you to donate £14.48 a month, or whatever is affordable for you (you might like to think of it as the equivalent of buying the Company a couple of drinks a month!). This will help create a growth in our giving and wider reach for the benefit of the Haberdashers’ family.

A gift in your will

Gifts from William Adams, Robert Aske and William Jones – as well as Throckmorton Trotman – continue to enable significant impact for our schools and their pupils.

A gift left to the Foundation in your will could do something similar. Simply let your financial advisor know your wishes, referencing the Foundation’s charity number (275067).

For more information about leaving a gift in your Will please contact our Director for Charities.