We spend around £45m to £50m each year in grants towards our funding priorities. On this page, you can find information about grants we made in 2024, broken down by aim and priority, type of support, amount awarded, and length of term. We also share success rates for applications in 2024.
If you have any questions about the information shared, please send an email to: communications@esmeefairbairn.org.uk.
You can also see our latest who our funding is reaching report, based on data submitted by applicants through a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) monitoring form, as well as information about the geographic spread of grants awarded.
Grant applications in 2024
The majority of applications we receive are through our open application process where organisations submit an expression of interest through our website. We also work proactively to invite applications from organisations who we think are a strong fit for our strategy. They may be organisations we learn about through our work, or organisations we have funded seeking a follow-on grant.
The following infographic shows an overview of applications in 2024 at Expression of Interest (EOI) stage, proposal stage, and grants awarded through the two routes.
For applications through our website, 7% of Expressions of Interest were invited to submit a full proposal. Of the proposals reviewed, 84% were awarded a grant. Of the grants awarded through this route, 54% were to organisations new to Esmée.
Grants awarded in 2024
In 2024, we made 241 main grants, totalling £45.1m, towards our three main aims: Our Natural World; A Fairer Future; and Creative, Confident Communities; as well as grants to key infrastructure organisations under A Sector Fit for the Future. Grants made in A Sector Fit for the Future contribute to our goals across our aims by enabling a stronger, inclusive sector; and applications are by invitation only.
Chart 1 shows the value and number of grants made under each of our aims as well as A Sector Fit for the Future.
Chart 2 shows a breakdown of grants in terms of the type of support offered: core costs, unrestricted, project costs, or delegated funding.
Overall, 66% of grants made in 2024 were unrestricted or for core costs, meaning the funding could be used for an organisation's running costs to enable them to meet their needs and priorities on their own terms.
Chart 3 shows a breakdown of grants by amount awarded.
The chart shows that just under half (49%) of our grants were for £90,001 to £250,000. The average grant amount in 2024 was £187,030; and the median was £150,000.
We made 1 grant over £1m: this was a grant of £2.7m towards the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, which is a collaboration with the Museums Association. You can learn more about this Fund in a blog by Alison Holdom, a Funding Manager Lead in our Creative, Confident Communities team.
We also made 16 grants for £25k or below. This includes grants for an additional £10k to 5 organisations we funded in 2023 as part of our New Connections programme to support their participation in a learning network, and 4 grants towards our work to support A Sector Fit for the Future.
Chart 4 shows a breakdown of grants by the length of term.
It shows that 129 out of the 241 grants awarded (54% of the main grants awarded in 2024) were for 25 to 36 months. Of these, 126 grants were for 36 months.
Grants awarded by funding priority
Charts 5, 6, and 7 show the value and number of grants made for each funding priority under our three main aims.
A Fairer Future grants
Chart 5 shows main grants awarded in our priorities for A Fairer Future where we made 100 grants, totalling £15.0m.
See the latest grants awarded in A Fairer Future by clicking the relevant priority:
Creative, Confident Communities grants
Chart 6 shows main grants awarded in our priorities for Creative, Confident Communities where we made 58 grants, totalling £14.1m.
They include our biggest grant, which went to Museums Association for the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund.
See the latest grants awarded in Creative, Confident Communities by clicking the relevant priority:
Our Natural World grants
Chart 7 shows main grants awarded in our priorities for Our Natural World where we made 70 grants, totalling £14.9m.
In addition to grants made under the Our Natural World priorities, we also made 3 grants towards funding priorities in our other aims as they support our goals across multiple areas, and are particularly key to the more proactive work we are doing to deliver our roadmap for improving our natural world.
See the latest grants awarded in Our Natural World by clicking the relevant priority:
