Meet our team
Sarah Hedley
Sarah Hedley
Sarah is part of the social investment team, managing a portfolio of investments, developing new proposals, and supporting Esmée’s broader social investment work.
Before joining the Esmée, Sarah worked at the Stone Family Foundation supporting water and sanitation enterprises in Africa and Asia, and as a senior consultant at the charity think tank and consultancy, NPC.
You might be interested in
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25 October 2021Lifelong Links: Building lasting relationships for young people in care
Lifelong Links by charity Family Rights Group is an exciting initiative that works with young people in care to help them reconnect and build lasting relationships with family members and other people who care about them. We went to Scotland to hear more about it.
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Plunkett Foundation: championing community ownership
We visited Siop Griffiths in Penygroes to learn how, with the support of Plunkett Foundation, they were able to develop their community owned café and shop, and help boost the confidence in the future of this rural village.
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We Belong: young migrants standing up
We met the team at We Belong, a relatively new charity that is run by, and for, young migrants in the UK. They engage young migrants in advocating for a fairer immigration system, and provide them with the tools to speak out about injustice and become agents of change.
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B-Arts: Using art and creativity to transform the community of Stoke
B-Arts is a participatory arts and theatre company based in Stoke. They use arts and creativity to improve lives and transform people's lives and the communities they live in.
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Celebrating 60 years of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
In 2021, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation turns 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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Working for a healthy sea with North Sea Wildlife Trusts
We visited Flamborough Head to hear about the North Sea Project, a partnership of North Sea Wildlife Trusts, working together to champion greater protection of our marine environment and the wildlife that calls it home.
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LocalMotion communications support: invitation for proposals
Together with a group of funders, we set up LocalMotion, a place-based initiative to support communities tackle deep-rooted causes of injustice in a more joined up, radical way. We are now seeking communications support to build LocalMotion's public presence and develop the programme's signature brand and style.
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Esmée's hackathon and me: a young environmentalist’s look into how change is made
Following a hackathon to address the lack of diversity in the environment sector, Hemlata Pant, a Youth Representative for Action for Conservation, writes about the experience.
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Addressing the lack of diversity in the environment sector
We're pleased to share a new report from our Involving Young People Collective summarising the discussions at a hackathon on addressing the lack of diversity in the environment sector. We also share our reflections on what we learned and our next steps for making progress on this.
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This is it: peat bogs are the UK’s climate superpower
Funding Manager and Our Natural World Lead, Jenny Dadd, writes why, when it comes to powerful solutions to the nature and climate crises, peat bogs are it.
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Esmée announces new Director of Creative Confident Communities and A Fairer Future
We're thrilled to announce the appointment of Veda Harrison as our new Director of Creative, Confident Communities and A Fairer Future.
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£1.8m Reinvent Performing Arts funding awarded to 40 arts organisations
We're excited to announce 40 new grants worth £1.8m, which we have made through Reinvent Performing Arts funding. This one-off funding is part of our response to the pandemic and provides additional support to some of our grantees as they re-open and lockdown eases.
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Impact-linked finance: what do we know about it so far?
A new report by Investing for Good, and commissioned by Esmée, provides a global review of impact-linked finance and explores the potential for adaptability for the UK social and impact investment market.
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Annual Report and Accounts 2020
Read our latest Annual Report, which gives an overview of our operations, funding and investments in 2020.
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Challenging conventions for a diverse and equitable environmental space
In April, over 50 individuals representing a range of organisations came together to participate in a Hackathon seeking to address the lack of diversity in the environmental sector.In this blog, IYPC member Daniel Seifu shares his reflections from the event.
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A fast response to COVID: challenging how we fund
In a new Insights report, we share feedback on our emergency response to the COVID pandemic, one year on. We also reflect on how it's challenging how we fund and lessons for the future.
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Response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report
Following the publication of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, we wanted to reaffirm our commitment to racial justice and to all those working to challenge systemic and institutional racism to create a fairer future.
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Reinvent Performing Arts
As part of our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are committing an extra £1.5m for Reinvent Performing Arts funding. With this additional funding, we hope to support current grantees working in the performing arts and to provide a boost to support their existing plans for re-opening over the next year.
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Making a real difference: reflections on working with Esmée to involve young people
Thalia Papanicolaou and Samuel Zubair from our Involving Young People Collective reflect on their time so far at Esmée. They discuss the opportunities for leadership and training that have been provided, how the experience allowed for personal development as the project progresses and how they're making a real difference to how Esmée works already.
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Involving young people: what we’ve learnt 10 months in
With the help of Hudl, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has been working with the Involving Young People Collective (IYPC) for 10 months. But what have we learned? Thalia Papanicolaou from the IYPC interviewed Catherine Hills and Lulu Wright from Esmée on their expectations, learning and future hopes for Esmée and the Collective.
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Hackathon addressing the lack of diversity in the environment sector
Amira Ismail, one of our young consultants with our Involving Young People Collective (IYPC) writes about plans for a Hackathon to help us address the lack of diversity in the environment sector.
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Increasing our funding for racial justice: a first step
We are offering organisations in our portfolio that are led by and for racialised communities additional unrestricted funding. A total of £2m has been made available, which will be split equally between the organisations that meet the criteria for this funding.
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Innovative funding to restore nature
Watch our webinar to learn about the challenges and opportunities of innovative finance models for restoring nature from Devon Wildlife Trust, Moors for the Future, National Farmers Union, The Rivers Trust and Triodos Bank.
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Q&A on Esmée's new strategy and how we make decisions
Watch our webinar on our new strategy and how we make decisions. The Esmée Team also share more detail around our impact goals and priorities under each aim.
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Esmée Fairbairn Foundation welcomes two new Trustees
We are thrilled to welcome two new Trustees to Esmée's Board: Professor Claire Alexander and Dr Wanda Wyporska.
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Caroline Mason awarded a damehood in New Year's Honours list
Our Chief Executive, Caroline Mason CBE, has been recognised with a damehood in the New Year's honours list
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What we're doing about diversity, equity and inclusion
This article explains where Esmée Fairbairn has got to so far, where we're headed, and pulls together our views, plans, and resources.
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Restoring our natural world
To tackle climate change, we believe restoring our natural world is vital and the need to do so more urgent. Watch our webinar, where we asked our panel of experts whether it was time to try something new.
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Creativity is Everywhere
Watch our webinar, Creativity is Everywhere, where our panel of experts share their perspective of what it means to take a truly collaborative approach to culture and creativity.
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Unlocking change webinars
EVENTS ON MULTIPLE DATES: To bring our new strategy to life, we’re holding three webinars to explore ways of unlocking change for our three aims: Our Natural World; A Fairer Future; and Creative, Confident, Communities
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