Philanthropy
Reuben Tycoons Fuel Big Gift Trend

One of the largest donations from a foundation to a UK academic institution for some time underscores an international trend in UHNW philanthropy over recent years.
The India-born Reubens brothers, among the UK’s wealthiest businessmen, have donated £80 million to an Oxford college via their foundation, continuing a big gift trend of philanthropists around the world.
David and Simon Reuben, recently ranked the UK's second-richest billionaires with a fortune of 16 billion pounds on The Sunday Times annual rich list, donated to Park College established by the university last year, according to a report on the brothers’ official website. Following this gift, the institution will be renamed Reuben College.
"The current pandemic has shown us just how vital it is to have
access to the very best medical research and academic thinking,"
the Reuben family said in a statement.
"Fortunately, in the UK we have some of the finest minds in the
world working in some of the most pre-eminent academic
institutions. We hope that this endowment for the Reuben College
will help keep Oxford University at the global forefront of
research in the vital areas of environmental change, AI and
machine learning and cellular life, thereby helping to improve
the lives of millions of people long into the future," they
said.
The institution opens in September, taking on 120 postgraduates
and will specialise in the study of cellular life, artificial
intelligence and environmental change.
As regularly reported, billionaires in the US, Asia and elsewhere
have made large gifts to educational institutions, such as
Michael Bloomberg’s $1.8 billion donation to John Hopkins
University.
The big gifts also come at a time when the wealth of top
entrepreneurs faces hostile scrutiny given the tough environment
after the 2008 financial crisis, and made worse by
COVID-19.