Gérard Basset Foundation publishes two year Impact Report

By James Lawrence

Published: 11 January, 2023

The trustees of the Gérard Basset Foundation have released an impact assessment report, detailing the work undertaken by the charity and its performance results over the past two years.

The foundation was set up on the 7 January 2021, with oversight provided by a multidisciplinary team of six wine, spirit, hospitality, education, finance & technology professionals that includes Jancis Robinson MW.

According to the report, the foundation has raised over £2.2 million since its inception, capital that is used to fund over 39 scholarship and bursary programmes to widen access and encourage diversity within the wine sector. These innovative bursary schemes have improved the lives of professionals from 15 different countries, representing 21 nationalities.

Among the key findings are the success of the Hennessy Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships and the Artémis Domaines Victims of Conflict Scholarships in Wine. The former scheme awards £50,000 in funds, alongside a £5,000 travel bursary, to allow recipients to complete their WSET Level 1, 2 and 3 in Spirits qualifications, and to undertake a 12-month internship program at Hennessy Cognac.

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The report stated that 16 candidates applied in 2022, representing 11 countries. In addition, 63% of the applicants in 2022 were women.

The Artémis Domaines Golden Vines Victims of Conflict Scholarships, meanwhile, were created to provide help and opportunities to wine professionals who have become victims of war and geo-political conflict.

Each recipient is awarded a salary of 20,000€ (€3,440 per month, half of which will be paid by Artémis Domaines, the other half by the Gérard Basset Foundation as an educational grant) for the duration of a 6-month internship to be conducted at one of Artémis Domaines prestigious estates.

Encouragingly, 27 candidates applied in 2022 - 56% of applicants in 2022 were women. Five bursaries have been awarded since 2021.

The report also celebrated the success of the Golden Vines fundraising dinner, which raised £1,000,000 for the second year running at a lavish venue in Florence, held on 15th-17th October.

According to the trustees, the foundation awarded grants to 19 ‘grantees’ to fund “diversity and inclusivity-focused educational and training programmes in the wine, spirits and hospitality sectors globally.”

These grants are in addition to the various Golden Vines scholarships awarded by the Gérard Basset Foundation and Liquid Icons in partnership with their sponsors.

Nina Basset, co-founding trustee and chair of the Gérard Basset Foundation, commented: “We are delighted that once again we have a fantastic range of Grantees from across the globe, some who we worked with last year as well as some new ones too. We’re thrilled to be supporting their varied initiatives and cannot wait to see what they achieve.”

Among the headline grantees for the 2022/2023 year are Be Inclusive Hospitality, who released its first impact assessment report yesterday. Funds will be used to support the organisation's ‘Club Thrive’, a members’ club providing networking, educational and career opportunities to BIPOC hospitality professionals.

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