Taking a gamble on impact. Nick Marple on luck and letting wealth go

“We don’t need a legacy going on for 100 years and being in our name. We just want to give the money away.” – Nick Marple, Gower Street charitable trust. 

Nick speaks to us about how a career in gambling shaped his unconventional approach to giving, grounded in speed, trust, and a sense of luck.

“My working life has always been in the gambling industry,” Nick explains. 

“We were betting on football, more or less in the same way people would bet on oil or gas markets or the stock exchange; high turnover, small profits.”

It was a high-stakes environment, and not one that suited everyone. But over time, as his wealth grew so did Nick’s unease about his taxes:

“Gambling winnings are tax-free, which I always felt was unfair or overly generous. So over time, as I was making money betting, I was giving away money to charity.” 

He started with ad hoc donations to local charities – giving roughly what he felt he owed in tax. But it was a trip to Ghana, where he spent time with a friend’s family, that shifted things. He began to think more intentionally about his giving – moving from reactive donations to strategic funding.

Nick and his wife found their footing strategically funding educational programmes, both in Ghana, and on their doorstep in Islington:

“Educating girls is one of the best things you can do for the planet and for local communities,” he says.

Next came climate. The urgency of the crisis pushed them to fund in ways that were faster, more flexible, and often outside the norm.

“Having the most impact can mean funding things that other people aren’t funding, or funding quicker, or funding more “risky” projects. 

“Lots of organisations won’t fund anything that’s under three years old. Nothing would ever get started if everyone did that. Whereas we can just make decisions in just a few weeks.”

They’ve taken a similar approach with investment – putting impact first and treating financial returns as a bonus, not a goal. A way of “recycling” philanthropic money into the future, without putting pressure on start-ups to generate returns.

“What we’re trying to do with our philanthropy is give away the power. Too many funders hold on to power.”

Nick’s unclutching approach to giving away his life’s earnings is, he says, inseparable from how he made his money:

“Through my career in gambling I really saw the influence of luck. It’s front and centre. I can just see how lucky I’ve been in life,” he says.

I think a lot of people with wealth somehow think they deserve the money. They want to hold on to the power of it and retain it.

“Whereas I’ve realised my income is 98% luck. So it’s almost like the money’s come to me and I should willingly pass it on to people who need it more.”

Nick remembers being part of the Reimagining Wealth programme and being asked to write down some thoughts about what was stopping him from redistributing his wealth. 

“When I thought about it I realised nothing was stopping me doing it,” he says. He wasn’t tied up in complex financial structures. There were no business or family obligations holding him back.

“There was absolutely no reason not to give the money away.”

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