Sainsbury Centre receives final grant from Gatsby Charitable Foundation

3 June 2010

Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health has received agreement from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation for a final grant to sustain its work for the future, it has announced today.

The final grant, equivalent to three years of its previous core funding, will help the Centre to carry on its work as it seeks alternative sources of funding in the coming years.

Gatsby Charitable Foundation, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, founded the Centre in 1985 and has provided core funding ever since. In 2009 it announced that its annual grant to us will cease in 2010. It asked the Centre to make plans for new working arrangements for 2010 and beyond for which it would provide a final grant this year. Sainsbury Centre staff and trustees have together built plans for the charity to continue its work, with the support of partners from other national mental health organisations *.

Sainsbury Centre joint chief executive Sean Duggan said: "We have enjoyed the privilege of uninterrupted core funding from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation for 25 years. With it we have been able to carry out independent, authoritative and groundbreaking work to improve the quality of life of people with mental health problems.

"We would like to thank Gatsby for its far-sightedness, its belief in our work, and its steadfast commitment to the cause of mental health over the last quarter of a century."

Sainsbury Centre joint chief executive Dr Bob Grove said: "We are delighted that the Gatsby Charitable Foundation has agreed to support our future work with this final grant. It will enable us to continue to innovate, to challenge and to make a difference in people's lives as we seek alternative funding for the future.

"Later in 2010, the Centre will announce a new name and seek to involve new partners, funders and supporters in our work. We do so with confidence and the understanding that the need for further improvement in the life chances of people affected by mental ill health remains great. We will continue to do our part to achieve change for the better with the spirit of independence that has always been the hallmark of our work."

* The organisations supporting the Centre's future are the Mental Health Network of the NHS Confederation, Mind, the National Mental Health Development Unit, Rethink and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.