Safera Foundation

The Safera Foundation is a private family foundation established by Sakina and Fakhruddin Suterwalla, with trustees including their children Salim, Femida, and Razia, registered in England and Wales (charity 1138949). Rooted in the family's philanthropic legacy and business success—Fakhruddin chairs TRS Group, a global ethnic foods supplier—its core mission is to alleviate poverty, aid crisis regions, and enhance living standards through flexible, trustee-led grantmaking. Emphasizing social justice, education, health, heritage, and cross-cultural engagement, it adopts a responsive, generalist approach prioritizing tangible impact over rigid themes, drawing from internal funding like Gift Aid donations for agile decision-making.

It supports a broad spectrum of causes, including education, health, disability services, poverty relief, overseas aid, housing, religious activities, arts/culture, science, environment, and community development. Beneficiaries encompass children/young people, elderly, disabled individuals, and the general public, with grants to both organisations and individuals for projects, core costs, scholarships, capital works, emergency relief, and cultural programmes. Past partners include Developments in Literacy, Acumen, The Salaam Centre, Aziz Foundation, Prince’s Trust, British Pakistan Foundation, and Bush Theatre, focusing on educational access, social mobility, health initiatives, and community cohesion in the UK and internationally.

Eligible entities face no specified restrictions on legal status, income/size, or geography—funding spans London-based and global projects for grassroots groups to established institutions—though applications are invite-only via trustee networks, with no public process or guidelines. Typical grants range £5,000–£100,000 (mostly £10,000–£50,000), awarded on a rolling basis through annual trustee meetings (financial year ends 31 October), without deadlines or cycles.

Distinctive for its family-driven discretion, absence of thematic/exclusionary barriers, and adaptive global outlook, Safera avoids unsolicited proposals, favouring aligned partners demonstrating meaningful social impact.