Shell Foundation’s independence

Shell Foundation’s charitable status mandates that it exists solely to further its charitable purposes for the public benefit, and is governed by its trustees who act exclusively in the interests of the charity, maintaining independence from any other organisation.  

Our independence from Shell and other entities is critical to our ability to deliver our charitable mission and work across the public and private sectors to deliver public benefit. 

Shell Foundation sets strategy and pursues our objectives independent of any government, company or other entity. Since inception, and in line with our charitable mission, Shell Foundation decides: 

• The global issue(s) to tackle 
• The countries in which we work  
• With whom we partner 
• When to draw on links to Shell in ways that we believe will achieve scalable development outcomes for Shell Foundation’s target beneficiaries. 

• An expert board: Consisting of leading figures from sectors relevant to our charitable mission, a minority of Shell executives (currently three) and an independent Chairperson.
• Financial independence: Maintained through management of an endowment which is governed by the board of trustees, to fund our operations.
• Business principles: A set of business principles to which our staff, board and partners are held accountable. The principles include a commitment to protect our independence and this is supported by a robust control framework to ensure these principles are followed.
• Clear and regular reporting: Continuous reporting to assess our performance against pre-defined impact targets and milestones.
• Transparent protocols: These protocols govern how and when we can leverage support from Shell in support of our charitable goals. The protocols prohibit Shell Foundation from working for Shell’s benefit except as is incidental to our charitable purpose.