About us

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Founded in 1961, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is one of the UK’s largest independent funders.

In 2025, we provided £52.9m in funding towards a wide range of work in support of our aims: to improve Our Natural World, secure A Fairer Future and nurture Creative, Confident Communities. We also have a £60m allocation to social investments and a £10m allocation to impact investments. Our money comes from our investments.

Learn more about our strategy

Celebrating 60 years of Esmée

In 2021, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation turned 60. We wanted to take some time to reflect over the last 60 years, and to celebrate the breadth of our work and all that we have achieved working with so many brilliant people and partners.

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    Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

    Our commitments on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as an organisation and through our work.

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    Climate Change

    Read about our commitment to addressing the causes and impacts of climate change.

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  • Zoielogic Dance Theatre

    Our funding data

    We publish all our grants and social investments on 360Giving, an initiative that aims to help UK funders share their data in an open and standard format online.

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    Our investments

    Our investments ensure that we can keep working to improve our natural world, secure a fairer future and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK for decades to come.

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    Strategy

    Information about our strategic plan including our impact goals and the outcomes we hope to achieve by 2030. We also outline how we will work in support of our mission.

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    Governance

    Esmée is governed by a Board of Trustees who meet six times each year to set and oversee the delivery of the Foundation’s strategy. We also have a number of Trustee committees, which support our work throughout the year.

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    Open and trusting grant-making

    Learn about our commitments to open and trusting grant-making, which is part of a campaign launched by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR).

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    Working for Esmée

    Our vision is for Esmée to have a diverse team of staff and Trustees – with the skills, knowledge, experience, networks and insights required to deliver our strategic plan.

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    HR policies

    Information on HR policies for people working at Esmée. As well as providing guidance on employment issues including the range of benefits available to staff, they ensure that we adhere to the law with consistency and consideration.

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Latest

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    We’re pleased to share a report by DHA Communications reviewing Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s support for community-led art and creativity. It looks at the context for this work and what progress has been made. Alison Holdom, Esmée Funding Lead for Creative, Confident Communities, also shares reflections on the recommendations.

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    Big Nature Impact Fund: Investing in nature’s recovery

    Led by Finance Earth, the Big Nature Impact Fund is the UK’s first blended nature-as-infrastructure fund. As they announce the first close, reaching a £64.6m, Sarah Hedley, Social Investment Manager at Esmée, reflects on why high-integrity funds like this are important and how it sits within Esmée’s work to improve Our Natural World.

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    Migration Museum: building a new museum with community at its heart

    Migration Museum share how they developed a People’s Panel to embed local voices directly into the creation of their new, permanent home.

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    New Connections – challenging the way we fund

    New Connections is supporting 20 organisations working for racial or migrant justice in the UK arts, community, environment and social justice sectors. As the learning Network comes to a close, we are sharing useful insights for funders who want to support grassroots and founder-led organisations, and for organisations that need their support but are frustrated with the funding system.

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