One of The Prince’s Charities, The British Asian Trust, the UK’s leading organisation for British Asian philanthropy, hosted its 3rd annual gala dinner last night at the Natural History Museum in London. The night proved to be an extremely successful event with distinguished guests and star attendees turning out to support the charity and raising an astonishing £900,000 to benefit the Trust and it’s various projects in South Asia.
The British Asian Trust Founder and President HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall attended the event alongside several of the charity’s key trustees and ambassadors. Guests included music mogul Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Leona Lewis, Labrinth, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal.
The Trust announced their plans for an extensive campaign to raise up to £3 million for Pakistan, supporting skills training for some of the country’s most disadvantaged people. The project will see the charity partner with, the Aman Foundation, who have contributed £1 million, and with the UK government.
The partnership will see The Trust engage in a match funding agreement with the Department for International Development, to launch a public appeal, which together with the Aman Foundation, aims to raise £3 million. The campaign will be the British Asian Trust’s first national public appeal, having raised millions from South Asian communities around the world in the last 9 years solely via corporate and private donations.
The British Asian Trust’s first ever ambassador, British TV star Sanjeev Bhaskar OBE, hosted the event for 450 supporters and ambassadors, with British chart topper Leona Lewis providing a spectacular performance for the guests.
Richard Hawkes, CEO, British Asian Trust said: “This has been a fantastic evening for the Trust. We have felt tremendous support, warmth and encouragement for our work from all of the guests. On this important night, not only did we raise £900,000 for the charity, we also announced our first ever public appeal and partnership to aid Pakistan with the Department for International Development and the Aman Foundation. 2016 will be another exciting year ahead for the British Asian Trust.”
This year’s British Asian Trust Annual Dinner was sponsored and supported by Southall Travel, Chopard, Serum Institute of India, Porsche and Hamleys.
