Daniel is the son of businessman and philanthropist David Dangoor CBE, who in the 1960s fled Iraq with his parents Sir Naim Dangoor and Renée Dangoor. He has worked in his family’s property business since 2010, and the family are generous philanthropists through the Exilarch Foundation.
Daniel graduated from Nottingham University. He became the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Union of Jewish Students in September 2023. In this role, he leads the board that is responsible for setting the long-term strategic direction of the UJS and holds legal, reputational, and financial responsibility for the organisation.
1. What are your business and philanthropic roles?
For the past 14 years, I have worked for our family’s business. We invest primarily in UK real estate and private equity and funds. As part of that, I work with the pension fund trading business and the Exilarch Foundation, our family charity, and all three entities raise their money in the same way, which is an investment in commercial real estate and private equity and funds.
While I don’t currently have a formal philanthropic role within the Foundation, we are considering a smaller fund within it where the younger generation of our family can formalise our giving. In terms of my formal philanthropic roles, I am the Chair of Trustees for the Union of Jewish Students (UJS).
2. What initially inspired you to become involved in philanthropy?
Philanthropy is an important part of society, and I was aware of this, from a young age, because of my grandfather who started the Foundation and the work he was doing.
Through the years, it has been rewarding to see the kind of things our family has been involved in and the impact they’ve had. Bursaries for universities were one of our first major themes, and we continue to get messages from ex-students who benefited from those bursaries who say what an impact it had on their education and how much of a difference it made.
Looking ahead and working to preserve our family’s legacy and the commitment of future generations, we have begun the conversation about involving the next generation as much as possible, allowing things to develop organically and pulling in everyone’s different skill sets. It’s important to build on the fantastic legacy we are following.
3. Tell us about a recent role have you taken on in the philanthropic sector.
As I said above, I recently took on the role of Chair for the Union of Jewish Students.
At UJS, we support all the Jewish student societies across the UK and Ireland. At any time, there are typically about 9,000 Jewish students on UK and Irish campuses. In concrete terms, we support about 78 of the Jewish societies, helping them with events, as well as offering representation to government and shadow governments. We are the democratically elected voice of Jewish students.
I first got involved with the Board of UJS back in 2020. A previous trustee stepped down and put my name forward. I joined the Board at that stage and then Paul Summerfield, who was the Chair at the time, stepped down last year and I took on the role in September 2023.
4. What are your overarching aims in your mission at UJS, and how do you measure the impact of the work?
I think it’s about how you help an organisation evolve and develop and better reach its ultimate aim. The journey I’m trying to go on there is understanding how an organisation can effectively use funds or where the funds are needed. UJS has always had good service delivery, it’s an organisation that is over 100 years old, but fundraising hasn’t always been at the forefront. I want to help it raise the means to do more of what it does well.
5. Can you describe a particular challenge you faced since taking up your post in September 2023?
The challenges the Jewish community has faced this year, following the terrorist attacks of 7th October and subsequent war in Gaza, have certainly been the most difficult. When you’re dealing with the whole anxiety that the community is feeling, and you’re conscious that the team, the engine behind UJS, are the sabbatical officers who are just themselves out of university. There was a latent anxiety across the whole community, and Jewish students on campus were acutely affected. Our primary concern was to support Jewish students through this, and it has been incredibly challenging, but I think we have succeeded.
6. What has been your most rewarding experience in philanthropy so far?
It’s definitely been UJS. It has been incredibly impactful to be able to support the community of Jewish students at a time of great difficulty and need. It has been an incredibly tough year following the events of 7th October and the war that ensued, but it has also been a rewarding year because we have had more engagement from Jewish students than ever before.
We’ve supplied more Friday night dinners than ever before and got more Jewish students to join Jewish societies. We managed to start a leadership fellowship that was hugely oversubscribed. And that is all despite the atmosphere being very difficult on campus. I feel like at a time of great need the UJS has stepped up, supporting Jewish students and helping them thrive during a time of conflict and pressure.
7. What skills have you brought from your business life into your philanthropic work?
My strongest focus has been on the importance of securing the resources to do what we want to do. It’s that focus on the bottom line that I think have brought in from a business day-to-day perspective. We have raised more money than ever before, which has allowed us to support students in an unprecedented way, especially as the need this year was also greater than ever.
8. Has your family’s approach to philanthropy been innovative?
I feel it has, through for example the naming of public spaces like Dangoor Walk and the square at Imperial College. This has been a conscious choice to inspire others to do the same. It’s about building a brand and communicating what we stand for, acting as an inspiration for other people.
9. Who is a leading philanthropist you admire?
In terms of leading philanthropists who inspire me, I’m a big fan of Sir Trevor Pears and the Pears Foundation. I like the community they’ve built around their philanthropy. I’ve had the pleasure of working with them through UJS, and I like their model and approach.
10. How can we encourage more philanthropy in the UK?
I think it’s about trying to get people to engage as much as possible. I believe people should be encouraged to do philanthropy, perhaps through creative and unorthodox means like having a part of their tax allocation to spend on something meaningful to them. It’s about helping everyone realise that philanthropy is for all, as well as seeing taxes as a way to contribute to society.
If I were in charge of the country for a day, I would certainly encourage and give people an opportunity to take ownership of philanthropy that is done by the government and other institutions on their behalf. I think this would help people feel more connected to their contributions and less distant from them.
Quick fire round
Favourite charity: Union of Jewish Students
Favourite philanthropist: My Dad. He has a fantastic style of leadership and brings lots of organisations together.
Best philanthropic initiative: Robert Dangoor Partnership for Living Kidney Donation bringing Kidney Research UK and Give a Kidney together.
Three most important skills in philanthropy: Measuring impact, patience and finding areas of passion.