Sussex foundation donates £10,000 to get diverse book in every secondary school

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s foundation has donated £10,000 to a fundraiser aiming to get a book of “raw” and “inspirational” stories from ethnic minorities into every state secondary school in the UK.

A Colourful View From The Top is a novel which features entrepreneurs, executives and “thought leaders” from ethnic minority backgrounds, and aims to help “change the narrative” for their communities.

The book’s curator, Jonathan Mildenhall, co-founder of marketing company Twenty First Century Brand, has said he “won’t rest until I know that there is a copy of this book in every single high school in the UK” and a GoFundMe has been set up to achieve that goal.

Jonathan Mildenhall, co-founder of marketing company Twenty First Century Brand (Christine Tatenda)PA Media - Christine Tatenda

With a target of £82,000, more than half the money has been raised thanks in part to a £10,000 donation from the Archewell Foundation on Monday, before Harry’s appearance at the High Court in London to give evidence in his claim against the publisher of the Mirror over alleged unlawful information-gathering.

An update from Mr Mildenhall on the GoFundMe page on Wednesday read: “Hello and thank you to our amazing donors. We’re more than halfway there at £42k raised!

“For now, we want to ask our donors to share this with your networks again with the good news that we’re at the halfway point!

“The more this fundraiser is shared the closer we can get to our target and inspire the next generation of young people in the UK – and maybe even beyond.”

Mr Mildenhall also confirmed that the National Literacy Trust had agreed to distribute the books, using money from the fundraiser.