Howard Foundation

The Howard Foundation, established in 1982 by Dr Alan Howard—creator of the Cambridge Diet—draws its endowment from commercial successes in nutrition to advance biomedical research and innovation, with a core mission to improve public health through evidence-driven science. Rooted in values of prudent stewardship, long-term impact, and academic partnership, it uniquely blends funding for cutting-edge research in human nutrition and nutraceuticals with legacy infrastructure projects, notably at Downing College, Cambridge, where it has built the Howard Building, Lodge, and Theatre.

It prioritizes thematic areas like obesity, eye health (especially macular carotenoids), prostate cancer, creatine, and Alzheimer’s disease, supporting specialist academic chairs (e.g., human nutrition at University of Ulster), research groups (e.g., Nutrition Research Centre Ireland), scientific conferences, and institutional capacity-building at universities rather than service-delivery programs.

Eligible entities are exclusively academic institutions and research bodies, favoring large, established UK universities (especially Cambridge) but open to aligned international partners; no income thresholds apply, though small or grassroots organizations are unsupported. Funding is invite-only via strategic trustee decisions—no unsolicited applications, public forms, or deadlines—with ad hoc meetings responding to partner opportunities.

Grants are substantial, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds for endowed chairs, multi-year research, or capital projects, excluding general charity operations, communities, or non-research activities. Distinctively specialist, it differentiates through its commercial-science origins, unwavering nutrition/eye/brain focus, and emphasis on enduring academic infrastructure over broad philanthropy.