# Christ's Hospital Foundation

Christ's Hospital Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in Horsham, United Kingdom.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** Horsham, United Kingdom
- **Region:** Europe
- **Address:** Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 0LJ, United Kingdom
- **Founded:** 1552
- **Assets under management:** $557M (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** christs-hospital.org.uk
- **LinkedIn:** https://uk.linkedin.com/school/christ's-hospital-school/

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The foundation was created 470 years ago when King Edward VI ordered the City of London to house and educate destitute children. It transferred its 1,200-pupil school from Newgate Street to a 250-acre Sussex campus in 1902, and has since built an endowment funded by centuries of bequests. HM King Charles III assumed the Patronage in May 2024 — the latest in an unbroken line of royal patrons dating to the foundation's Tudor charter. The endowment's real-asset core provides a direct line of sight into UK property. Holdings include an industrial estate in Hove, agricultural land in Southwater and Coolham, and a commercial office portfolio, alongside ground-mounted solar installations on the West Sussex campus. The foundation also runs a common investment fund for pooled capital, and the Altss record tags a venture allocation — broad, generalist, and consistent with a charity that needs long-horizon equity to support its bursary obligations. Berkeley Group holds an option over foundation-owned land in Southwater, signalling how development rights on legacy property can turn into cash for the school. Governance sits with a Council that mixes professional investment managers with City of London figures. Alex Barr, a partner at Sarasin & Partners, and Jamel Banda, Head of Treasury at Ghana International Bank, both serve alongside Treasurer Miriam McKay, who chairs the body. The Worshipful Companies of Loriners and Haberdashers maintain historic trustee links, and the City of London Corporation nominates council members under its 1552 obligation. No other UK endowed school foundation operates at this intersection of Tudor-era charity law, Crown patronage, and institutional real-asset management. The foundation is a beneficiary rather than a grantmaker: it exists to fund one school, one campus, one mission. That single-purpose structure concentrates operational risk but eliminates the programmatic drift that dilutes broader foundations. The secular emphasis on property income — not just financial securities — makes it a fundamentally different investor from the standard UK charitable endowment.

## Sectors

- Real Estate
- Infrastructure
- Natural Resources
- Venture (General)

## People

- Miriam McKay — Treasurer and Chair of Council
- Matthew L S Judd — Head of School / Foundation Council member

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at the foundation?

The Council, chaired by Treasurer Miriam McKay and including investment professionals such as Sarasin & Partners partner Alex Barr and Ghana International Bank Head of Treasury Jamel Banda, sets investment strategy. Day-to-day management is delegated to staff and external managers, with the foundation's Common Investment Fund handling pooled capital.

### How does the foundation source its property deals?

It does not acquire reactively. The endowment was built up over centuries, and its real-asset holdings — including the Hove Trading Estate, Southwater farmland, and solar installations on the school's own campus — are legacy assets rather than market purchases. Berkeley Group holds an option on Southwater land, so development value can be crystallised without a sale process.

### Is the foundation a grantmaker or a beneficiary?

It functions as a charitable beneficiary rather than a grantmaker. Its sole purpose is to fund Christ's Hospital School in Horsham. It does not give grants to external organisations; all income supports one institution's bursary provision and operations.

### How does the foundation's real estate exposure differ from a typical UK endowment?

Its portfolio is legacy, land-rich, and concentrated in West and East Sussex — including agricultural holdings, a trading estate, and on-campus solar farming — rather than a geographically dispersed commercial property fund. This gives it direct control over development upside through agreements like the Berkeley Group option.

## Related profiles

- [Fundação Viva de Previdência](https://altss.com/profile/fundacao-viva-de-previdencia)
- [J.W. McConnell Family Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/jw-mcconnell-family-foundation)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/christs-hospital-foundation

Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology