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The Tony Blair Institute is undergoing a major restructuring that includes staff lay-offs, as the not-for-profit set-up by the former UK prime minister searches for a more sustainable funding model.
Sir Tony Blair, whose institute advises nearly 50 governments worldwide, emailed staff on Thursday to inform them the TBI would be entering a “new stage of its journey” including changes in senior management, said three people familiar with the matter.
The email spelled out a number of changes affecting the leadership of the organisation including the appointment of a new finance chief and operating officer, while setting out plans for a regional managing director in Europe.
The TBI would also now focus on four global functions with an emphasis on “[artificial intelligence] and innovation”, including the appointment of a new chief AI and innovation officer, former Treasury official and longtime Blair adviser Benedict Macon-Cooney.
“This is a genuine restructuring,” TBI said in a statement to the Financial Times. “We’re evolving, particularly as we focus on governing in the age of AI and the technology revolution.”
Changes come as the not-for-profit, which undertakes commercial consulting to fund pro-bono work for governments, suffered deepening losses last year. TBI reported a $4.3mn loss in 2024 despite turnover increasing 11 per cent to $161mn, according to accounts published earlier this month.
The TBI attributed increased expenditure to rising staff costs — it recruited former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin and former UK chief of defence staff general Sir Nick Carter last year — as its portfolio of work grew and it expanded to eight new countries.
TBI said: “We have taken the decision in the last couple of years to invest in expansion and run a small deficit, given our strong reserves and cash position.” The TBI had reserves of more than $33mn at the end of 2024.
Staff numbers climbed to 786 in 2024, up from 719 a year earlier, with the bulk of the increase in the not-for-profit’s advisory arm. It incurred $2.2mn in costs attached to redundancies last year, triple the amount incurred in 2023.
Two people familiar with the matter said the not-for-profit has been seeking to increase sources of funding, particularly through consulting work, amid concerns that it was dependent on too few individual donors.
Billionaire Larry Ellison’s contribution in 2023 was equivalent to more than a third of the TBI’s operating costs in the same year.
The Oracle co-founder has pledged or contributed nearly $350mn since 2021, according to public filings. Blair, who serves as the institute’s executive chair, has a close personal relationship with Ellison spanning back to his time serving as Britain’s premier.
“TBI income this year has grown again and will do so again next year. And every year for the last three TBI has increased its own income from sources other than donors,” the not-for-profit added.
The TBI also receives grant funding from organisations including the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and World Bank.
Blair left Downing Street in 2007 after a decade in power. Since leaving office the former British premier has dispensed advice to governments across the globe, while he is expected to play a role on a supervisory board overseeing the running of postwar Gaza.
The TBI has been criticised for undertaking advisory work for controversial clients such as Saudi Arabia, while the FT previously reported that staff were involved in a project alongside Boston Consulting Group that envisaged a “Trump Riviera” in Gaza.
Although Blair does not take a salary from the institute, TBI’s other four directors were paid a total of $2.1mn last year, up from $2mn in the previous 12 months. The highest-paid director took home $1.3mn. The director is not named in the accounts.
Additional reporting by Kieran Smith and Peter Andringa
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