The Freshwater Foundation has been founded by Mark Robbins, an Ealing resident for the past 39 years. During that time, he has gained wide experience of charities and voluntary work, as a volunteer, as a manager within the sector and as a student examining it from without.

Finding himself in a position to give away a substantial sum of money, he wanted not only to donate to the areas closest to his heart but also to use his experience and knowledge to support voluntary groups and charities in all aspects of management and governance, and to help them engage with each other and all other levels of public life. He was especially keen to help new groups start up and in general help to further the growth and significance of the voluntary and charitable sector in the public life of west London.

He also brings considerable experience as a teacher, having been a university lecturer for the past 25 years, and with it a passion to communicate the knowledge he has gained about charities and the voluntary sector, and the bold possibilities that are opening up for it.