The Beacon Collaborative Becky and Lauren Holmes: Young philanthropists
Becky and Lauren Holmes are Trustees of the Helvellyn Foundation, an independent grant-making organisation which they founded in 2020 alongside their father, Bill Holmes.
Lauren works for a national employability charity, having previously been a teacher, and Becky is studying Ecology & Wildlife Conservation at Reading University.
Becky and Lauren’s vision is a world in which all young people have equal access to fulfilling opportunities and where all species are able to survive and thrive alongside human beings; visions that are being realised by charities they support such as The Prince’s Trust, the SHARK Trust and the African Wildlife Foundation.
Quick facts
The causes
- Biodiversity
- Young people
The funding
- The Helvellyn Foundation, working with partner charities
- Individual giving
The takeaways
- Sharing ideas is important. You can get inspiration from some people and inspire others yourself.
- Do what you can now, then keep learning.
- Make philanthropy less of a taboo topic by talking about what you are doing.
Young philanthropists as change makers
Q: What does “being a change maker” in philanthropy mean to you?
Becky: For me, a changemaker in philanthropy is someone willing to push boundaries and seek out better ways to do things, and so they might take on an active role in helping charities to form more impactful strategies. However, not all charities need their philanthropists to be changemakers and instead might just need the financial support, and so we’re always conscious of when to step back and let the charity do its own work.
Lauren: Another critical part of being a changemaker in philanthropy is actively reflecting and speaking with others who share this space with you. For us, this has meant seeking inspiration from others to do things differently but also making sure to share our philanthropic work with others who have the ability to create change.
Q: What motivates your support?
Lauren: Broadly speaking, improving the state of the planet and social justice, particularly for young people. As an individual, my focus can shift more flexibly to reflect on current affairs in the news and across social media, whereas once we have set a focus within our Foundation, we try to stick to this.
Becky: I echo Lauren in that biodiversity and social justice really drives my personal giving, and I also prefer to be more responsive to emerging current affairs as an individual than through our Foundation, which has led me to support the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBT charities, and the crisis in Ukraine. Long-term impact also underpins every donation for me, as I want to be giving to a charity that has a proven track record of doing good work and continuing this.
Q: What expectations do you have of yourself as a philanthropist?
Lauren: I often ask myself “if not me, then who? If not now, then when?”. There are so many challenges facing people and the planet that we have both often felt confused about where to start, but we know that we still need to do something, as much as we know how to do at that moment, and to keep learning as we go.
Becky: Influencing older generations and those with wealth to engage more with this sense of urgency is a big expectation we hold of ourselves. I see the urgency to do something within my studies, but not everyone in our circle is exposed to this like we are. We want to acknowledge our privilege and put it to as much good use as possible and ultimately contribute to making philanthropy a less taboo topic to talk about.
Working with partner charities
Q: What expectations do you hold of charities that you support?
Becky: The pandemic was the ultimate example of how situations can change and the need to be dynamic and innovative in response and we really admired how all of our partner charities were so good at shifting quickly to ensure that our funds were being used in the most efficient and effective ways.
Lauren: We also really value honesty from our charity partners, and so in our review calls, we encourage them to be open about their reflections and always welcome comments like “this didn’t work so well, we learnt X, and now we’re going to do Y”. Likewise, we have tried to model this behaviour within our Foundation by taking a thorough look at the learnings from our first programme to apply next time.
Q: How hands-on are you with your partner charities and is that important to you?
Becky: We are big believers in collaboration and are always willing to facilitate this if an organisation felt it would be of use, but each charity that we work with operates differently and so some will want to catch up more frequently than others. Our role as funders opens us up to having conversations with many different charities, and so we make an effort to build up a strong knowledge of their successes and challenges to share where relevant across our portfolio of partners.
Lauren: We know that time is precious for charities and so to save them from writing lengthy applications, we opt for introductory calls instead when we are already fairly certain that we want to work with them after doing our due diligence. During our first programme, we asked for our partners’ feedback on the topics they would most like to learn more about, leading us to create optional drop-in sessions on major giving, young people’s involvement, and bridging the gap between young people and conservation. We also offered business mentoring where useful and have found that by facilitating these opportunities for partners to come together and learn, they have in return delivered sessions for us to learn from, which has contributed to building brilliant relationships.
As next generational giving establishes a stronger presence across the donor landscape, communities like The Prince’s Trust RISE and UNICEF Next Gen are creating opportunities for young donors to expand their networks and collaborate on their growing appetites to do something that inspires change.