Silent giving – A lot of philanthropic activity happens out of the spotlight

Many of Shepherd and Wedderburn’s clients who are engaged in philanthropy choose to do so anonymously. That might be because they don’t want to receive unsolicited requests for funding, because they want to keep their finances private, or just because they’re happier doing their philanthropy out of the spotlight. Or, indeed, all of the above.

This doesn’t present any extra challenges when we are structuring everything for them legally, whether they choose to create a charitable trust or to look at other routes to achieving their philanthropic goals.

In the case of one family that we’ve been working with for some time, I am a trustee of their charitable trust and actively contribute to its work. Which is how I – not by any means an adventurous traveller – ended up making a 48-hour trip to Ethiopia. Not a trip I would ever have imagined making.

A few years ago, I learned about a charity called KidsOR, founded by philanthropists Garreth and Nicola Wood. The ‘OR’ stands for ‘operating room’, and the charity provides paediatric operating theatres, each one made up of thousands of individual items. These are shipped to hospitals around the world that most need them, and installed by a team of expert engineers. Local surgical teams are trained to use the equipment, and the future potential of these children can be unlocked through what is often routine surgery.

It might sound a little like flat-pack furniture, but these are exceptionally high-quality facilities that the NHS would be proud of. The charity had originally set itself a target of installing 100 operating theatres by 2030.

The ultimate aim is simple: that no child should be denied surgery because of where they were born. At present, around 1.75 billion children live in countries without access to safe surgery.

Our clients decided to get involved, and funded several operating theatres through their charitable trust. By the summer of 2025, KidsOR’s original target of 100 installations had been reached, and the ambition had to be doubled: 200 operating theatres by 2030, creating the capacity for 500,000 children to access surgery each year.

When KidsOR reached number 101 – or, as they proudly call it, “the first of the next hundred” – at Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, they suggested that I travel to Ethiopia for the official opening and to see a newly installed operating theatre first-hand. A little nervously, I agreed.

I needn’t have worried. In the space of just 48 hours, I met the surgeons, nurses and other staff and heard about the incredibly challenging conditions they work in, often having to delay operations because they had no way of measuring the correct amount of anaesthetic with sufficient accuracy. I helped to decorate the newly installed operating theatre and attended a formal opening ceremony, where I was coaxed into participating in some local dance routines. Then, while waiting at Istanbul airport for my connecting flight home, I received a text message from one of the staff saying that the first operation was underway, along with a picture. It was incredible to see.

I had been told in advance that paediatric surgery should not be a luxury. Now I had seen the impact of that aim first-hand. I left Ethiopia with a much greater understanding of just how hard everyone was working in very challenging circumstances. It was both inspiring and humbling. As a parent of young children in the UK, you can be forgiven for taking the NHS for granted until you witness healthcare provision elsewhere.

It was also immensely satisfying to see first-hand the results of our clients’ generosity, and naturally they were thrilled when I reported back to them. And this, ultimately, is the real reward of philanthropic activity.

There’s a common misconception that people are mainly motivated by the tax advantages, but personally I’ve never met a single client for whom that was the main objective. Above all, it is about the personal satisfaction of being able to make a real difference to other people’s lives, whether locally or far away, and whether or not that is publicly known.