A foundation run by the UK’s most generous philanthropist has completed £277m worth of payments to a charity set up by his ex-wife after a court decision.
The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) made its final payment to Big Win Philanthropy at the end of 2025, the latter charity’s accounts reveal.
CIFF has paid out the sum as grants in 20 quarterly tranches since 2021 after a Supreme Court ruling in 2020 concerning the founders’ divorce.
Christopher Hohn and Jamie Cooper established CIFF together in 2002 but the latter ended her involvement with the charity when they divorced.
The pair’s 2014 divorce settlement agreed CIFF should make the grant payments to Big Win Philanthropy, founded by Cooper.
Big Win Philanthropy, in its latest accounts, said: “As of the end of financial year 2025, the CIFF grant has been received in full.”
It said that the money received from CIFF was used to form the bulk of its expendable endowment, which was also supported by $40m (£30m) donations from Cooper and Hohn’s hedge fund company TCI Fund Management Limited.
Big Win’s expendable endowment – including net investment gains – rose from £306m to £383m by the end of 2025.
After the final CIFF payment was received at the end of last year, Big Win Philanthropy said it used the money to increase its spending.
“In addition to making a number of new grants, the charity continued to launch new programmes and make new programmatic commitments in 2025,” the accounts read.
It plans to rely on the investment performance of its expendable endowment – bolstered by the grant payments – to fund its activities.
Where the money will go
Hohn this year topped the Sunday Times Giving List after donating £1.4bn, about 17% of his estimated wealth, to charities.
In doing so, he became the first British philanthropist to donate more than £1bn in a single year, the Sunday Times reported.
CIFF’s 2025 annual report reveals it spent $622m in total last year and recorded an income of $2.59bn, including $1.69bn of investment gains.
