became the Laidlaw Youth Trust (no longer operational). Currently, he is Chairman of the Irvine Laidlaw Foundation, simply known as the Laidlaw Foundation, which he set up to aid the advancement of education, especially the education of deprived young people, in particular by means of grants and other forms of financial assistance to institutions which are engaged in the provision of educational services in any part of the world. The Foundation's activity consists of three core programmes: The Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Scholarship Programme - as of 2021, the scholarship programme operates in 13 universities around the world: Columbia University, Cornell University, Durham University, National University of Singapore, Trinity College Dublin, Tufts University, University College London, University of Hong Kong, University of Leeds, University of St Andrews, University of Toronto, University of York, and University of Rwanda. Every year, the programme funds cohorts of around 25 students at every institution for two summers to complete a research project with an academic supervisor, and undergo training to develop their leadership skills. The Laidlaw Women's Business Education Programme - full and partial scholarships are awarded to women with financial constraints to complete MBA's in order to help them get into senior roles and ultimately achieve gender parity in industries around the world. The programme currently operates in Columbia Business School, London Business School, and in March 2020 it was also announced that Saïd Business School will join as well. So far, Laidlaw donated $2 million to Columbia Business School, £3.69m to London Business School, and £1.35m to Saïd Business School as part of this scholarship programme. The Laidlaw Schools Trust - a multi-academy trust founded in 2008, which currently consists of 7 academies in the North East of England with 5500+ students and 850+ staff in total: Excelsior Academy, Academy 360, Atkinson Road Primary Academy, South Hylton Primary Academy, Thomas Walling Primary Academy, Westgate Hill Primary Academy, and Sedgefield Community College. He has also donated: £2 million to The Prince's Trust After Moray Council earmarked Rothiemay Primary School for closure, Laidlaw donated funds to a parents campaign which successfully kept 21 schools open Donated R9 million to fund the Amakhaya Ngoku housing project Laidlaw scholarship at Newcastle University, in which he funds 50% of the funding along with the university. Supporting the Glyndebourne Festival production. Donating £100,000 to Scottish Opera Private investor for Ben Ainslie Racing Donor to the Rural Education