Stephen Gosztony sadly passed away in August 2022. Stephen was a lifelong friend of Build It.
In 2007, he provided the seed funding that enabled the newly registered charity to begin work. A friend of founder and first CEO Andrew Jowett, Stephen was enthusiastic about supporting education and training for disadvantaged young people in Africa. He cared deeply about creating opportunities for people to grow early in their working lives.
As the charity grew, Stephen remained a generous support and advisor. He established and sponsored an annual Build It dinner at the Walbrook Club, which still takes place today. Despite his busy schedule, Stephen stayed closed engaged with Build It's work, and visited Zambia twice.
Creating a legacy in Stephen’s memory
The Gosztony Endowment Fund aims to continue the work Stephen helped to start.
The fund will be invested to generate income for Build It’s work. Income received from the fund will be available for all of our activities, but will be especially important to support the core skills training programme at our Centre for Excellence.
The capital of the expendable endowment fund may be spent where it is in the interests of the fund’s purposes but there is no requirement to do so, and it is intended that The Gosztony Endowment Fund will be an on-going vehicle through which to raise funds to support the activities of Build it International over the long term.
"I know that Stephen would be honoured to have a fund set up in his name to support a charity which he had been involved with for fifteen years.
He would be particularly delighted for it to be an endowment fund, which will bring benefits for the trainees and communities for many years to come.”
Sue Butcher, Stephen’s wife
Update September 2024: We are delighted to share that so far the fund has raised £330,000. An investment manager has been appointed, and the money raised has been invested to generate income for our work. Our thanks to everyone who has contributed.
To find out how you can support The Gosztony Endowment Fund, including information on donating from the US, please get in touch on +44 (0)7865 573 443 or email [email protected]
