Sir Christopher Hohn is a well-known hedge fund manager and founder of TCI Management Fund. However, he is also one of the most prominent philanthropists in the world, establishing the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation which is dedicated to alleviating child poverty worldwide. Hohn’s net worth as of 2022 sits at $8.21 billion, the majority of which he has committed to charity. Here are nine facts about Christopher Hohn’s philanthropy.

9 Facts About Christopher Hohn’s Philanthropy

1. Christopher Hohn’s Beginnings: Christopher Hohn was born in October 1966 in Addlestone, Surrey. He became a hedge fund manager while completing his bachelor’s degree.
2. The Origins of Hohn’s Philanthropy: Hohn studied Economics and Accounting at the University of Southampton and received his MBA from Harvard University in 1993. In 2003, Hohn left Perry Partners to found his hedge fund, TCI Fund Management, along with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). With its founding, Christopher Hohn’s philanthropy would begin to take shape and make immense contributions to his goals of helping children across the world escape poverty. Hohn’s wife encouraged Christopher to conduct his philanthropic work publicly because “she was against starting a fund just to make money for myself,” he says. “She said if you [did the philanthropic pledge] publicly, it would encourage other people.”
3. The Knighthood: Christopher Hohn’s philanthropy earned him a knighthood in 2014. As a hedge fund manager of a company that managed billions of dollars, he separated himself from most other hedge fund managers entering the market, due to his active approach to charitable policies through his TCI Fund Management and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.
4. About the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF): The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation is the world’s largest philanthropy that focuses on improving the lives of children in developing countries. Since its inception, CIFF has established offices in Addis Ababa, Beijing, Nairobi, London and New Delhi and has also worked with other organizations to help children out of poverty.
5. CIFF’s Offices: CIFF individually established these offices to collaborate with partners within those countries, to facilitate the organization’s goal of alleviating child poverty. For example, CIFF’s office in Nairobi underwent establishment in 2009, and the Addis Ababa office emerged in 2019. CIFF established its offices in Ethiopia for initiatives like WASH and NTDs, along with its regional investments, such as Girl Capital, all with the intention of alleviating child poverty. Similarly, CIFF’s office in Delhi (established in 2007), currently based in Rajasthan, aids India in promoting child health and development. The CIFF office there also supports the India National Deworming Programme, which works for the complete elimination of worms in children there.
6. Climate Investments: In 2019, CIFF also established an office in Beijing, where it works with multiple partners to address changing weather patterns; it specifically focuses on sustainable development and a low-carbon economy. In London, CIFF’s offices focus on climate investments through involvement with EU policy-making and further involvement with local campaigns. In September 2019, CIFF launched the Clean Air Fund at the U.N. General Assembly, which focuses on the quality of air in India, the U.K. and Eastern Europe.
7. Partnership with UNICEF: During Global Citizen Live in September 2021, CIFF partnered with UNICEF to pledge $50 million towards improving child nutrition, with a specific focus on tackling “child wasting,” a severe form of malnutrition that affects 47 million children worldwide and multiplies their risk of death in comparison to healthier children. CIFF’s collaboration with UNICEF resulted from the Global Action Plan (GAP) on wasting, a plan that UNICEF pioneered. The initiative employs a “holistic approach” that combines prevention, treatment and early detection methods. It also allows countries to unlock matched funding to treat child wasting.
8. Other Efforts with UNICEF: In August 2021, CIFF also collaborated with UNICEF to raise $13 million for UNICEF’s Soccer Aid campaign, with proceedings going towards initiatives that fight child-wasting. Funds from the campaign also help UNICEF provide vaccines, safe spaces and proper nutrition for children.
9. Recent Efforts: Sir Christopher Hohn’s work has contributed $2 billion to charity, and he has also pledged most of his net worth to these causes. In 2021, CIFF, in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ELMA and other philanthropies, committed $130 million to help maintain essential health programs.

Success to Date

Christopher Hohn’s philanthropic work, through the TCI Management Fund and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, has made great strides in helping children across the world escape poverty. These organizations, in partnership with other philanthropies, have contributed billions of dollars to ensure that children across the world can escape hunger and poverty.

– Arijit Joshi
Photo: Flickr