GrantRadar

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation grants

Large grants (at least £30,000, no maximum, usually for 3-5 years) for core, project or unrestricted costs. They go to constituted organisations with turnover of £100,000 or more doing charitable work that fits one of 13 funding priorities under Our Natural World, A Fairer Future, and Creative, Confident Communities. The Foundation looks for work aimed at systemic change that is led by lived experience and collaborative. Only about 5% of expressions of interest in 2025 led to a grant.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
From £30,000
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Constituted organisations, both charities and non-charities doing legally charitable work with direct UK benefit
  • Turnover must be at least £100,000 in the latest accounts
  • Non-charities must show safeguards against disproportionate personal benefit
  • Partnerships can apply
  • The Foundation reviews governance, leadership, finances, DEI approach and safeguarding (where working with children or vulnerable adults), and checks the applicant's website for track record and impact

What it funds

  • Core costs (including salaries and overheads), project costs, and unrestricted funding for charities
  • The work must fit a funding priority
  • Our Natural World: peat, space for nature, freshwater, nature-friendly farming, fishing
  • A Fairer Future: arts and creativity making change, children and young people's rights, racial justice, gender justice, migrant justice
  • Creative, Confident Communities (place-based): communities working together for change, community-driven enterprise and regeneration, community-led art and creativity
  • It favours ambitious work aiming at systemic change or wider influence (policy, practice, attitudes), led by people with lived experience or the community, and collaborative

What it will not fund

  • Organisations with turnover under £100,000 (latest accounts)
  • Unconstituted organisations
  • Organisations without safeguards against disproportionate personal benefit
  • Capital costs (building work, renovations, equipment)
  • Grants to individuals
  • Grants under £30,000
  • Work that is not legally charitable
  • Work with no direct UK benefit
  • Work that is mainly the responsibility of statutory authorities
  • Academic research without practical outcomes
  • Independent or fee-paying education
  • Healthcare (clinical, counselling, hospices, therapy, addiction services, medical research)
  • Promotion of religion
  • Some priorities are closed: early years (0-5), and care leavers' 'cliff edge'

How to apply

Three stages.

  1. Expression of Interest through the online portal: choose one aim and priority (plus up to two more), answer two questions in 300 words in total, then complete a DEI form. The form cannot be saved. Take the eligibility quiz first.
  2. If taken forward, an assessment call
  3. If invited, a proposal: an existing business, project or strategic plan can be used, plus up to three outcomes with indicators

There is a separate process for youth-led creativity.

Access Payments are available for disabled applicants.

Have ready

At the proposal stage the Foundation may ask for:

  • Latest approved annual report and accounts
  • Management accounts if accounts are not yet examined
  • Current-year organisational income and expenditure budget
  • Safeguarding policy
  • A project budget with other funding sought or secured (for project requests)
  • Constitution or memorandum and articles (if not a registered charity)

Applicants have three months to provide these.

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