$66.7-Million Raised by Princess’s Fund

The memorial fund created to benefit the causes that Princess Diana championed during her life has announced how it plans to award 13 million pounds, or about $21.7-million, in its first round of grants.

And all indications are that there will be much more to give away. Donations to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund continue to come in daily, according to officials of Mischon de Reya, the law firm that is administering the fund. The fund has assets totaling some 40 million pounds, or about $66.7-million.

One million pounds was awarded to each of the six British charities to which Diana was formally linked at the time of her death in August: the British Red Cross, the Centrepoint Organisation for the Homeless, the English National Ballet, the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, the National AIDS Trust, and the Royal Marsden Hospital. A one-million-pound grant was also awarded to London’s Osteopathic Centre for Children. Princess Diana had pledged before she died to help raise money for a new building for the group. A grant of similar size is being considered for groups that work with land-mine victims.

In addition, five million pounds, or about $8.3-million, will be divided among 95 other charities that Princess Diana had worked with.