Natasha Poonawalla Foundation

The Natasha Poonawalla Foundation, established on 13 October 2021 by philanthropists Natasha and Adar Poonawalla, is a UK-registered charitable company limited by guarantee focused on advancing health, preventing sickness, and relieving ill-health through financial support, advice, and assistance. It also promotes education in medical sciences, drawing on the founders' global legacy in health and philanthropy—exemplified by a £50 million gift to the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute for vaccines research and infrastructure. With trustees appointed for expertise and direct founder oversight, the foundation emphasizes scalable, science-led interventions for global challenges, prioritizing underprivileged groups via high-impact collaborations.

It funds large-scale medical research, pandemic preparedness, vaccine development, healthcare access (especially in low- and middle-income countries), and medical science education. Grants support research infrastructure, capacity-building, and transformational projects with academic and research institutions, like the Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building, targeting durable global benefits rather than small-scale or emergency efforts.

Eligible applicants are limited to UK-registered charities and academic institutions, with a preference for large, established organizations of substantial capacity and international reach; geographic focus is UK-based recipients advancing work in England, Wales, and overseas. Funding is invite-only—no unsolicited applications, public calls, or deadlines—with decisions at trustees' discretion.

Typical grants are multi-million-pound scale for strategic partnerships, excluding grassroots, small-scale, or non-research initiatives. Distinctively, its founder-led, partnership-driven model differentiates it, fostering system-level change in global health equity and scientific innovation through elite institutional alliances.