After the sale of his first company, Boston Light, English began making philanthropic donations under the tutelage of Tom White, who helped start Partners In Health (PIH), a non-profit focused on improving healthcare in Haiti and other developing countries. Initially, English made occasional donations of about $10,000–$20,000 to charities recommended by White. In 2005, English made his first major contribution when he gave $1 million to PIH. White died in 2011 having given away the vast majority of his own wealth, and English eventually planned to do the same. PIH was working to overcome a cholera outbreak in Haiti which followed a major earthquake in the country. English offered to fund or "backstop" a cholera vaccination program for 100,000 people. The Red Cross eventually ended up funding the project but his offer to "backstop" the program allowed PIH to move forward with acquiring the expensive vaccine, confident they would be able to find funding for the program. English serves as a director of Partners In Health and co-founded Summits Education, a network of free schools in Haiti. As of 2016, Summits Education, a collaboration with PIH and the Haitian Ministry of National Education, was responsible for the education of 10,000 students with 328 teachers at 41 primary schools in the Central Plateau.