HISTORY OF THE AIM FOUNDATION AND NUTRITIONAL WELLBEING FOUNDATION

At the time of the sale of Trebor Limited to Cadbury in 1989, Angela and Ian Marks decided to gift some of their share of the proceeds to their family foundation, The AIM Foundation (AIM).

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 Ian then became Chair of Cytoplan Ltd, a vitamin and mineral supplement company of which he was a major shareholder. In 1999 Ian gifted his shares to AIM and in 2008 all the remaining shares were transferred over, so Cytoplan was then 100% owned by the Foundation.  Ian passed away in 2018 and in his letter of wishes he stipulated that dividends from Cytoplan should be used ‘for the advancement of health’, and as a result AIM established a grant programme focused on Nutrition for Health. From 2018 to 2023 AIM awarded over £1 million in grants to organisations working in this area.

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 The AIM Trustees believed that Ian’s ambitions around nutritional could be best served by people with specific interest and expertise. Therefore, in July 2023 a dedicated foundation the Nutritional Wellbeing Foundation (NWF) (1203987) was established and AIM gifted all of its shares in Cytoplan to the NWF later the same year.

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 Today Caroline Marks is Chair of NWF and in 2024 we recruited three new independent Trustees who bring a breadth of relevant expertise. The NWF Trustees have oversight of Cytoplan, but are not involved in operational decisions of the business.

NWF is now responsible for the multi-year nutrition grant commitments made by AIM in 2023 and will continue to support these six ambitious and innovative organisations.

 

A recent strategic review has created a different focus from 2025 onwards,  and NWF’s primary focus will now be on secondary school communities. We will be supporting partners working to improve school food and equipping young people to make healthier food choices. This continues to build on Ian and AIM’s original aspirations.