Lord Forte Foundation

The Lord Forte Foundation, established in 1987 by hotelier Lord Charles Forte, drives a mission to reward excellence and foster innovation across the hospitality sector, encompassing hotel, catering, travel, and tourism industries worldwide with a UK core. Rooted in values of meritocracy, professional advancement, legacy-building, and transformational impact, it champions nurturing talent—especially from disadvantaged backgrounds—through targeted support for education, training, and research. Funding decisions prioritize expert-led, evidence-based initiatives promising multi-generational benefits, raising industry standards via strategic partnerships with educational institutions and high-potential individuals, believing excellence emerges from skilled workforces and cutting-edge pedagogical innovation.

It funds hospitality-specific education and professional development including bursaries for students and professionals pursuing specialist hospitality studies, skills training in hotel management, front-of-house service excellence like Gold Service Scholarships, catering apprenticeships, and tourism qualifications; grants to hotel schools, universities, and training providers for advancing teaching practices, curriculum innovation, and research enhancing sector knowledge and standards. Supported interventions target building employability for future hospitality workforces, covering essential training costs for disadvantaged young people and adults entering hotel, catering, or travel roles; professional upskilling for current workers; research addressing industry challenges like service innovation and workforce resilience; and programs fostering leadership in tourism and hospitality operations, emphasizing practical, hands-on training, mentorship, and innovation to prevent skills gaps and elevate global standards.

Exclusions encompass non-hospitality projects, capital builds, unrestricted core funding, and initiatives lacking direct sector impact or merit. Priorities favor disadvantaged individuals overcoming barriers to hospitality careers, UK-based professionals and students with overseas training links, and organizations demonstrating rigorous excellence in hospitality education or research. Distinctive for its singular, unwavering hospitality niche, familial trustee expertise from industry leaders like Sir Rocco Forte, and philosophy of selective, long-term investment yielding enduring professional legacies over broad social interventions.