Editorial
The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund is run by the Museums Association and focuses on time-limited collections work.
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Publication
News story
The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Rank Foundation have joined forces to deliver a...
The strand is now open for applications and will operate until at least the end of 2015.
We are delighted to be working with the Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear Northumberland
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has launched a fund to support organisations in the early stages
In 2011 the Foundation turned fifty and to mark our anniversary we commissioned a short film with some stories about what we do.
Before completing the eligibility quiz please read the Guide to applying which details our funding priorities and exclusions. Following this you can answer the question below to assess your eligibility. Roll over the help icon for more information on a specific question.
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Thank you for completing the eligibility quiz. According to your answers, the work you are proposing or the type of applicant you are means that you are not eligible for funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
Please refer to the reason(s) given when you ticked the respective answer(s). Should you still choose to make the effort of submitting a first stage application, please be aware that it is very likely that your application will fail our screening process and will be classified as an exclusion.
If you are not eligible for funding from the Foundation you may find information on other sources of funding to be of use.
Thank you for completing the eligibility quiz. Since your organisation is not a registered charity, before you apply, please ensure that you have a valid constitution which proves your charitable status and prevents the distribution of profits amongst members.
Thank you for completing the eligibility quiz! It looks like you're ticking all our boxes.
Proceed to the Guide to applying to make an application.
The Foundation generally does not fund capital costs like buildings, materials, vehicles or equipment so it will not fund, for example, building projects, refurbishments, new IT or sports equipment. On occasions the Foundation may fund equipment, if they are a small and integral part of a project.
We support overhead costs of an organisation in addition to those that are specific to a particular project. As with all applications, however, the organisation's overall goals must be ones that fit with our interests and priorities.
Please note that we do not fund any equipment costs unless they are a small and integral part of a project.
We support the costs that an organisation incurs in delivering a particular project that is usually time limited. As part of any application for project costs we will also consider a reasonable request for a contribution to the organisation's general overheads or core costs.
For this type of organisation we require you to submit a constitution, which describes your social purpose.
Please note that if your organisation is not a registered charity, we require you to submit a constitution, which shows its purely charitable purpose and its asset lock.
We do not fund any organisation that distributes its profits/surplus to private individuals in the form of share dividends or other forms.
Please note that for this type of organisation we require you to submit a constitution, which shows its purely charitable purpose.
We do not fund individuals, only organisations with a charitable purpose.
Please note that we do not fund individual or consortiums of Schools/Colleges/Academies or Nurseries.
We do not fund any statutory organisations, except in some cases museums.
We fund universities in general but you may find it useful to know that we rarely support research proposals. We may do so where applicants can demonstrate significant practical benefit.
Please note that Esmée Fairbairn has been set up to only fund organisations and projects with a direct benefit in the United Kingdom.
We do not support organisations that promote a particular religious belief as a focus of their work. However, we do provide grants to organisations that have a religious inspiration where it does not in anyway proselytise or make services conditional of religious practice.
We do not fund the independent education sector.
We do not fund projects related to animal welfare.
We are very unlikely to fund mainstream or core activities of local organisations which are part of a wider network of others doing similar work, even if they are constituted as separate organisations. This is because our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support. We are, therefore, only able to consider support if the proposal is genuinely developmental or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.
We are very unlikely to fund work that is well-established and well-proven. This is not a reflection on the quality or importance of the work, just that there is quite a lot of this kind of work taking place. Because our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support, we are only able to consider support if the proposal is genuinely developmental or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.
We are very unlikely to fund work that is well-established and well proven. This is not a reflection on the quality or importance of the work, just that there is quite a lot of this kind of work taking place. Because our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support, we are only able to consider support if the proposal is genuinely developmental or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.
We are very unlikely to fund work that is well-established and well-proven. This is not a reflection on the quality or importance of the work, just that there is quite a lot of this kind of work taking place. Because our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support, we are only able to consider support if the proposal is genuinely developmental, innovative or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.
The foundation does not fund healthcare or related work.
We consider this work that is primarily the responsibility of local or central government and are therefore very unlikely to fund your organisation. As our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support, we are only able to consider funding if the proposal is genuinely developmental, innovative or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.
We do not fund housing and homelessness services that generally ought to be carried out by local authorities under their statutory duties. As our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support, we are only able to consider funding if the proposal is genuinely developmental, innovative or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.
We are very unlikely to fund your organisation as we consider this 'work that is well-established and well-proven'. This is not a reflection on the quality or importance of the work, but that there is quite a lot of this kind of work taking place. This is because our funds are limited and we receive far more applications than we can support. We are, therefore, only able to consider support if the proposal is genuinely developmental or there is something exceptional about the circumstances.