Huge donation for Brick by Brick campaign to honour Julia Rausing in new £100m charity give-away fund

An extraordinary generous donation has been made in honour of Julia Rausing, the wife of Tetra Pak heir and philanthropist Hans Rausing, who died earlier this year.

The gift of £150,000 from a new fund set up in her name will enable the Brick by Brick campaign to be able to help fund a second house for victims of domestic abuse.

The huge contribution towards The Independent’s and Refuge’s charitable appeal will be the first donation made by The Julia Rausing Trust since it was announced after her memorial service last month to continue her philanthropic zeal.

Be a brick, buy a brick and donate here or text BRICK to 70560 to donate £15

In a move which stunned the charity world, it will now double its annual giving to UK causes to £100m a year from 2025. This will be one of the most generous acts of charitable giving ever seen in Britain.

The massive giveaway was announced just after the memorial to Ms Rausing, a former Christie’s art expert, who died aged 63 in April. She had been instrumental alongside her husband in giving tens of millions of pounds to charitable causes over the last ten years.

Philanthropist Hans Rausing said: “My wife, Julia Rausing, was a passionate supporter and advocate of charities that specialised in helping women, children and families that had been the victims of domestic abuse. She was always pleased to see new initiatives that increased the awareness of domestic abuse and she would have welcomed The Independent’s Brick by Brick campaign with Refuge.

“For these reasons, we are pleased to announce a donation from The Julia Rausing Trust to help with the creation of a second safe house for families in need of protection. We hope this donation will encourage others to give generously to this important initiative.”

Mr and Ms Rausing launched The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust in 2014, which became one of the largest charitable grant-makers in the country. To continue philanthropy in her name, the charity will soon become known simply as The Julia Rausing Trust.

The Independent’s push to build a second safe home for domestic abuse survivors has now passed the halfway point thanks to this donation of £150,000.

The generous sum from The Julia Rausing Trust was given not only to help victims but to also inspire others to donate towards our new target of around £600,000 to build a second refuge. The latest donation has now taken our fundraising total past £500,000.

Only last month, we began raising money in partnership with charity Refuge and homes company Permission to help build a house for a family fleeing the horror and fear of their situation.

Thanks to generous donations and the backing of figures including prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, the Queen, Dame Joanna Lumley and Dame Helen Mirren, our initial target of £300,000 was smashed within weeks.

A Refuge spokesperson said: “Thanks to the incredible generosity of The Julia Rausing Trust donating £150k, we are halfway to our target of £300k to build a second house and we are all committed to raising the rest of the money needed to make this happen.”

One woman fleeing domestic abuse is turned away from a refuge every two hours due to a lack of space. The Independent has heard testimony from a wide range of survivors, including a woman held hostage in her flat for a week and others simply too terrified to leave.

BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire opened up about the abuse she, her siblings and her mother endured at the hands of her father, describing in brutal detail how he scalded her by pouring hot soup over her school uniform.

The houses will be built in an undisclosed location to protect those who live there and will be near local transport links and amenities so the family can travel to and from school, go to work, and create a safer life.

Alongside a living room, open-plan kitchen, dining and private garden, the home will feature the latest security measures, including a fireproof letter box, CCTV, and enhanced locking features on windows and doors.

Please donate now to the Brick by Brick campaign, launched by The Independent and charity Refuge, to help raise £300,000 to build a safe space for women where they can escape domestic abuse, rebuild their lives and make a new future. Text BRICK to 70560 to donate £15.