The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

What The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation does

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation is a UK-registered charitable foundation established in 1985 through the generosity of Ryoichi Sasakawa, with a subsequent further endowment from his son Yohei Sasakawa. The Foundation operates as a grant-making organisation that supports and develops mutual understanding and cooperation between the UK and Japan, distributing approximately £1m annually to hundreds of projects across the arts, sport, education, science, social issues, and medicine. Over its first forty years, the Foundation has invested over £20m in UK-Japanese exchange and collaboration.

The Foundation's core offering is its annual grant-giving programme, supplemented by several specialist programmes: the Butterfield Awards for medicine and health (annual December application cycle), the Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme (up to 30 studentships annually at £15,000 each, funded by The Nippon Foundation and delivered through 25 UK university partners), the annual Translation Prize (in partnership with the Society of Authors), the Japan Experience Study Tour (JEST) for UK sixth formers, and the now-concluded UK-Japan Global Seminar Series (held with Chatham House from 2013-2017) and the prior Sasakawa Lectureship Programme (2008-2013). Operations are run from two offices — London and Tokyo — with a small staff of approximately six employees.

The Foundation does not sell products or services; rather, it allocates charitable funds to eligible UK and Japanese applicants through competitive application cycles (three annual deadlines for the London office, two for the Tokyo office). Its revenue derives from the Sasakawa family endowment and programmatic funding from The Nippon Foundation, a related Japanese philanthropic entity. The Foundation also supports a dedicated programme of research into antimicrobial resistance.

Name

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

Legal name

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

Website

https://gbsf.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation is a UK-registered charity that supports UK-Japan bilateral relations through approximately £1m in annual grants and specialist programmes spanning arts, education, medicine, and student exchange, with offices in London and Tokyo.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Cultural Exchange Charitable Grants

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

International Affairs (9721), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK), Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI), Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ), Research Grants, Fellowships & Stipends (International) (EDAIAOAJ), Government-Sponsored Scholarships & Exchange Funding (EDAIAOAF), Mobility Grants & Short-Term Study/Travel Awards (EDAIAOAK)

Keywords

• UK-Japan cultural exchange
• Charitable grant funding
• Postgraduate studentship funding
• Bilateral cultural relations
• Educational grant programmes

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation is an independent UK-registered charity that operates a portfolio of grant-giving programmes and cultural/educational exchange initiatives to build mutual understanding and cooperation between the UK and Japan. Each year it provides approximately £1m in small grants to hundreds of projects across arts, sport, education, science, social issues, medicine, and other fields, alongside dedicated programmes including the Butterfield Awards for medicine and health, the Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme (up to 30 studentships), the Translation Prize (with the Society of Authors), and the Japan Experience Study Tour for UK sixth formers.

Product overview

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation is a UK-based charitable foundation that operates as a grant-giving organisation rather than a commercial product company. Its portfolio consists of grant programmes, educational initiatives, and cultural exchange offerings, including the core Grant-giving Programme (providing ~£1m annually to UK-Japan projects), Butterfield Awards for medicine and health, the Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme (up to 30 studentships at £15,000 each), the Translation Prize (in partnership with the Society of Authors), the Japan Experience Study Tour for UK students, the UK-Japan Global Seminar Series (in partnership with Chatham House), and the former Sasakawa Lectureship Programme (2008-2013). The foundation also maintains offices in London and Tokyo and publishes annual reports.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Butterfield Awards: Grants dedicated to medicine and health, awarded annually
• Sasakawa Studentship Programme
• Japan Experience Study Tour (JEST)
• Sasakawa Lectureship Programme
• Translation Prize

Products and services

• Grant-giving Programme
• Butterfield Awards
• Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme
• Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize
• Japan Experience Study Tour (JEST)
• UK-Japan Global Seminar Series

Quantifiable outcome

• Over £20m invested in UK-Japanese exchange over 40 years
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major, ongoing, supporting and core.

• Chatham HousemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Co-host of the UK-Japan Global Seminar Series (2013-2017), a five-year project examining how UK and Japan are adapting to a changing world. The series convened annual conferences alternately in London and Tokyo.
• The Nippon FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Co-funder of the UK-Japan Global Seminar Series (2013-2017) together with Chatham House, examining strategic partnerships between UK and Japan
• Society of AuthorsongoingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates with the Society of Authors on the annual Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize, celebrating exceptional translations of Japanese literature into English
• SISJAC (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost venue for Sasakawa Postgraduate Studentship alumni event in Norwich, working with the Foundation to connect current and former studentship holders
• UK Universities and Institutes of Higher EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInstitutions that nominate candidates for Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme. Currently including 25 universities: Arts University Bournemouth, Birkbeck, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Courtauld Institute, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, King's College London, Leeds, LSE, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Sheffield, SOAS, St Andrews, UCL, UCLan, UEA, Warwick, West London, York

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Japan Society (London): UK charity promoting understanding of Japan through talks, screenings, education, and grants. It is an emerging/niche player in the UK-Japan cultural exchange space with a more limited grantmaking budget than GBSF but a directly overlapping mission.
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch): International grantmaking foundation with a UK branch funding cultural, educational, and research projects with a partial international/cross-cultural focus. It is a comparable generalist grantmaking peer, though not Japan-specific.

Direct peers

• Sasakawa Peace Foundation: Japan-based sister foundation sharing the Sasakawa name and ecosystem, which houses the GBSF Tokyo office in its building. It runs larger international policy and US-Japan exchange programmes and operates as a closely affiliated bilateral peer in the same family of foundations.
• Japan Foundation: Japan's official government-affiliated institution for international cultural exchange, with a London office running grants, Japanese-language programmes, and intellectual exchange. It is a directly comparable bilateral cultural-grantmaking peer operating in the same UK-Japan corridor.
• Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation: UK-registered charity that funds UK-Japan academic, cultural, and educational exchange through grants, studentships, and lecture programmes. It is the most direct bilateral UK-Japan grantmaking peer to GBSF, with a very similar operating model.
• Great Britain-China Centre: UK-registered charity dedicated to strengthening UK-China relations through people-to-people, educational, and cultural exchange. It mirrors GBSF's bilateral UK-Asia exchange model and is the most direct structural analogue in a different geography.

Others

• SOAS University of London (Japan Research Centre): Lead UK academic centre for the study of Japan, Asia, and Africa, and a long-standing GBSF studentship partner. It is a partner/customer rather than a direct competitor, but is closely adjacent in the UK-Japan academic ecosystem.
• The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation (sister) - not applicable: Placeholder omitted - the subject company itself.

Broad incumbents

• British Council: UK's principal public body for international cultural relations and educational exchange, running large-scale grant, scholarship, and partnership programmes globally. It is a broad incumbent in international educational and cultural exchange that overlaps GBSF's mission at much greater scale.
• The Nippon Foundation: Large Japanese grantmaking foundation that fully funds GBSF's postgraduate studentship programme and the prior lectureship programme. It is a broader incumbent funder with global reach and a wider thematic scope than GBSF, but is a direct upstream funder and strategic partner.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GBSasakawa
• Facebookfacebook.com/GBSasakawa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-great-britain-sasakawa-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation