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Martin Lewis Reveals He's Donated Nearly £20 Million To Charity In Eight Years

Martin Lewis Reveals He's Donated Nearly £20 Million To Charity In Eight Years

The Money Saving Expert has shared the wealth around since selling his website in 2012

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, has revealed he's donated almost £20 million of his own money to charity over the past eight years.

The 48-year-old financial watchdog and literal money saving expert explained how his flagship website MoneySavingExpert.com was bought by the Money Supermarket Group in 2012 for a figure estimated to be around £87 million.

When that went through, he pledged that he'd donate £10 million of that to charity. However, he's now announced he actually donated nearly double that figure.

He shared a blog report that detailed where the funds have ended up and the people that have been helped by it over the years since his pledge.

Organisations like Citizens Advice and food bank charity the Trussell Trust have been among those to benefit from Lewis' generosity, as well as a number of charities close to his heart and his own foundation.

PA

On his website, Lewis wrote: "£11m is the total I've now put into charity funds, including Gift Aid (or equivalent). £2m of this was direct funding to Citizens Advice.

"£9m was put into a Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) fund. This works like a charity bank account - I control the money, but can only use it to make charitable-type donations...

"£7.9m of that £9m has now gone to specific charities, so that's total donations of £9.9m so far when Citizens Advice is included."

Martin also revealed there is still £10.4 million - around the same amount initially donated - in the Charities Aid Foundation fund he established, because the investments he had 'a large chunk of the charity money in did well'.

On top of all that, he also outlined an extra £5 million that has been raised aside from his direct donations to charities, or that were made before he set up that CAF fund.

PA

Charities that have benefitted from the cash include the helpline Grief Encounter (£186,000 donated), The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute (£2.5m donated), and the Martin Lewis Coronavirus Poverty Trust (which received £2.1m from Lewis as well as £1.3m from fundraising).

As for Martin's career, in July last year he revealed he was quitting his regular spot on Good Morning Britain after 17 years on the daytime show providing financial advice and money saving tips.

Lewis said he 'couldn't cope' with his current workload as well as his appearances on the show, but said he'd love to return as a regular guest in the future.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, TV and Film, Money, UK Entertainment