Garfield Weston Foundation
2007 Annual Report and Accounts

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Structure
The operation of the Foundation is governed by a Trust Deed dated 10 October 1958.

At 5 April 2007, the Foundation owned 79.2 per cent of Wittington Investments Limited, a company registered in England. Wittington Investments is the ultimate holding company of Associated British Foods plc, which is listed on the International Stock Exchange, and Fortnum and Mason plc and Heal and Son Limited. Under the terms of the Trust Deed, the investment in the Wittington Investments Limited group of companies forms the permanent capital endowment of the Foundation and the Trustees may not dispose of those investments except by a unanimous vote of all the Trustees.

Governance and management
In accordance with the Trust Deed, after the death of Mr W Garfield Weston and his wife, their descendants became Trustees. The number of Trustees is limited to ten but must be at least five. If the number of Trustees drops below five, new Trustees fall to be appointed from amongst the lineal descendants of W Garfield Weston.

Being family members, incoming Trustees are aware of the aims and objectives of the Foundation and the manner in which the Trustees carry out their responsibilities. The Foundation is a member of the Foundation’s Forum and also receives the main charities’ journals. This ensures that the Trustees are well placed to keep up to date with developments in charity practice and regulations. In addition, the Trustees receive direct information in relation to important areas from both their Secretary, who attends monthly meetings and is a practising lawyer with expertise in the charities’ field, and from their auditors, UHY Hacker Young LLP.

The Trustees are directly responsible for the management of the Foundation and hold regular meetings in order to consider grant applications for more than £100,000 and to ratify grants which have been made since their previous meeting. Whilst grant applications are initially processed by the Administrator, every application is seen by at least one of the Trustees. The Trustees also hold an annual meeting in order to adopt the Annual Report and Accounts and to carry out a formal review of the fulfilment of the Charity’s aims and objectives and the investment performance over the year.

Risk management
The Trustees are satisfied that appropriate protection, systems and checks remain in place in order to mitigate exposure to major risks.

The Trustees regularly review the levels of risk with their independent investment managers ensuring they are commensurate with investment returns and also regularly review the performance of the underlying assets in the Wittington Investments Limited group. During the year the investment mandate with Sarasin Chiswell has (at the manager’s suggestion) been varied to permit investment through hedge funds (funds of funds) and options in order to assist in managing downside risks.