Coutts, the private bank and wealth management service has launched the Coutts Foundation, a grantmaker which will aim to help tackle the causes and consequences of poverty.

The Coutts Foundation will fund work both in the UK and internationally, aiming to support sustainable approaches to tackle poverty. Focusing on communities where Coutts already has a presence, this year the charity will award grants to a small number of organisations that are delivering approaches to ensure human needs are met.

Rory Tapner, chief executive of Coutts, will chair the Foundation’s board. He said: “The new Coutts Foundation will extend our charitable support across all our international markets - reinforcing our core philosophy of giving to alleviate poverty.”

The foundation will focus its grants on organisations that are providing sustainable approaches to food, energy, water and housing, as well as access to both education and health care.

The charity launched formally this month, however it registered with the Charity Commission in February and has already approved four grants.

These include grants to projects such as City Gateway which, based in the East End of London, will support their Apprenticeship Scheme for disadvantaged young people.

Lien Aid was also given a grant to help fund its Gift of Water project in China.

The foundation was launched to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Angela Burdett-Coutts, a 19th century philanthropist who was concerned with breaking cycles of poverty and the provision of basic human needs. Angela Burdett-Coutts was the granddaughter of the banking service's founder, Thomas Coutts. 

In 2011 Coutts released a guide for local philanthropy, encouraging philanthropists to get involved in supporting their local communities.