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The Permira Foundation

Multiplying the potential of our local communities by catalysing non-profits to drive social impact.

 

 

Our mission

We are a global foundation funded and incubated by Permira.

 

We envision a society in which everyone has the chance to realise their full potential.

 

To advance this vision, we partner with non-profits focused on tackling social exclusion and disadvantage in communities around the world.

How we advance our mission at The Permira Foundation

1
Strategic partnerships with sector-leading non-profits

We partner with transformative non-profits working in the UK, US, mainland Europe and Asia who are advancing missions in three areas - access to education, access to employment and supporting better outcomes in health and wellbeing.

 

We invest in these non-profits, providing an impactful combination of one to four year unrestricted grants, as well as ongoing pro-bono support from our people, which draws on Permira’s experience of working with market-leading management teams and companies globally. Our ambition is to help our non-profit partners to achieve their strategic objectives for growth, sustainability and impact. We also support our portfolio to connect, knowledge share and learn from best practice to help all organisations achieve better outcomes faster.

2
A crisis relief fund

To ensure we can respond in times of urgent need when crises hit our communities, we collaborate with humanitarian relief partners to deliver rapid support on the ground.

3
A matched giving fund

We amplify the impact of any Permira employee’s charitable contributions by matching donations 3:1, strengthening their support for causes they are passionate about.

To date, The Permira Foundation has supported 250+ non-profits around the world, promoting social inclusion in our local communities.

How we invest in our strategic partners

To build strategic partnerships with non-profits, we have two funds at The Permira Foundation – both focused on advancing better outcomes in education, employment and physical and mental wellbeing and supporting organisations based in the US, UK, Europe or Asia. Both funds are invite-only.

The Spark Fund
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The Spark Fund aims to invest in a diverse range of high-impact non-profits, which are delivering tangible progress within our communities.


The Spark Fund offers non-profits:

  • Unrestricted funding of a smaller grant size per annum for a one to two year cycle

  • An investment programme delivered by local Permira teams based on the non-profit’s strategic and operational priorities over the grant term
The Growth Fund
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The Growth Fund aims to support growth stage non-profits to enable them to scale their impact within communities and support them to become pioneers of social change across society.

The Growth Fund offers non-profits:

  • Unrestricted long-term funding of a larger grant size over a four-year term

  • A comprehensive investment programme delivered by both local and global Permira teams, aiming to bring the best of the firm to social impact organisations as they scale

Our impact

Through our strategic partnerships, we supported our non-profit partners to reach communities across the globe.

Our global non-profit portfolio

Our 30+ strategic partner non-profits advance missions in education, employment and physical and mental wellbeing across the UK, US, Europe and Asia. This includes a number of global partners who work across our geographies.

Our Portfolio

Global

Europe

UK

US

Asia

UK - London

Partner Since 2024

AllChild

AllChild supports communities in underserved neighbourhoods across the UK to help children and young people build the social, emotional, and academic skills they need to flourish.

UK - London

Partner Since 2025

Alzheimer's Society

To be here for everybody affected by dementia; whether that’s someone with a diagnosis, or someone who cares for them.

UK - Guernsey

Partner Since 2025

Autism Guernsey

To transform lives and change attitudes to help create a society that works for autistic people.

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Highlights from our portfolio

10 Dec 2024
Challenge Partners – A decade of driving innovation, accelerating growth and deepening impact
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See case study library
Irene Shih
“The Permira investment lead team have been there on our journey and we would not be where we are now without them.”
Irene Shih
CEO, Minds Matter Bay Area
Alex Stephany
"The Permira Foundation has been a great partner; from being a sounding board to me as CEO, to mentoring our senior leader team, to guiding our strategy, supporting our ops. It really has been transformational.”
Alex Stephany
CEO, Beam Foundation UK
Dr Ingmar Hornke
“Permira teams have helped us set up our foundation, craft our strategy and changed the way we think about innovation.”
Dr Ingmar Hornke
CEO, Palliativteam Frankfurt

The Permira Foundation Team

Our Foundation team is responsible for the day-to-day running of The Permira Foundation and leads work with our non-profit partners.

Foundation Investment Leads

Our Foundation Investment Leads are people from across Permira who lead our partnerships with non-profits, working with the core Foundation team to deliver investment programmes.

SPARK Fund Investment Committee

This Investment Committee is responsible for building our SPARK Fund portfolio, making decisions for 1-2 year terms. The IC comprises of Permira colleagues from across our global offices

GROWTH Fund Investment Committee

The GROWTH Fund Investment Committee focuses on the Permira Foundation’s social impact investments for our 4-year fund. The IC is globally represented made up of senior Permira colleagues.

The Permira Foundation Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is responsible for governing The Permira Foundation as a global charity and overseeing our strategy as an organisation. Below shows the Trustees from Permira. Bruce Embley, Partner at Clifford Chance and Olivia Biggs, Partner at Deloitte, are also Trustees of The Permira Foundation.