Additional Q&A

Our funding is open application - if an organisation believes their work is a strong match to our current funding priorities and can demonstrate the long term outcomes under the relevant priority, they are welcome to submit an EOI.

Correct.

Our average grant size is approximately £200k, and average term is 3 years, making our average yearly award about £60k.

There are no plans to change our current funding priorities.

In 2025 , 70 (29%) out of 241 grants were to organisations new to Esmée (funded for the first time).

Organisations with a broader remit beyond one priority can apply. In some cases, 'project' funding may be appropriate to ring fence the funding for a particular strand of work, or 'core' funding that is defined as being allocated to that strand of work.

Our assessment criteria is consistent across all applications. Although invited or follow on grants do have a higher success rate. If you are currently have a grant with us, we recommend getting in touch with your funding manager in the first instance. Otherwise, you can submit an expression of interest through out open application process.

In 2025, For applications through the open application process, 11% of Expressions of Interest were progressed to an Assessment Call. Of these, 52% were invited to submit a full Proposal, with 91% being awarded a grant. Of the grants awarded through this route, 62% were to organisations new to Esmée.

We believe 'infrastructure' work is vital. However, we are not well placed to support the full spectrum of infrastructure work across sectors. Therefore, where we do support it, it is to support elements of infrastructure and capacity building that have a crucial role within the long term outcomes for our funding priorities.

Yes. But will all applications, there are other factors we would consider.

No, applications are not disadvantaged based on when they are submitted. We accept applications on a rolling basis throughout the year, and there isn’t a smaller pot of funding available towards the end of the year.

We assess each application on its own merits and how well it fits with our strategy, priorities and long-term outcomes.

We support a range of organisation 'types' that are providing an 'infrastructure / backbone' role. The key issue is demonstrating how the arrangement is led by people living in the place, and how the intended outcomes of the approach reflects the long term outcomes under the relevant Esmée funding priority - i.e. shifting local relationships / systems that enable local people to have greater influence over decision making and what happens where they live (beyond an individual one-off 'project' - albeit some projects are 'demonstrators' for a new approach). We are not likely to support applications where this is a local infrastructure organisation's regular 'routine' work.

The nature of the work is the important element - that it is led by the people in the place, and that the legacy is held by the place. We support work in single locations and work that is taking place in a number of locations.

We value organisations working in partnership with others to amplify reach and potential impact and to share resources and knowledge. For our processes, we will require there to be a 'lead' organisation who would receive the grant. In the application form, there will be space to tell us about the partnership, the partners involved, and nature of the partnership.

It is not a requirement for applicants to already be a real living wage employer - we recognise there are range issues for applicants that may affect their ability to do this. If organisations aren’t able to pay the Living Wage for any reason, this does not mean we won’t fund these applications. It means we want to fund at the Real Living Wage levels wherever possible.

As long as you meet our governance requirements, which it sounds like you do, the structure shouldn't be a disadvantage. We are a charity and our governance only allows us to make unrestricted grants to registered charities. However, we can make core costs grants. Core costs can cover an organisation's running costs and overheads as well as the work being funded. Most of the grants we award are either unrestricted or for core costs. Generally, if an organisation's work aligns well with our priorities, we'll make an unrestricted or core costs grant. Most project costs grants we award are usually for a specific project, which might be carried out by a large organisation whose remit is a lot broader than what we're looking to support, or by a group of partners, or if there are parts of an organisation's work that might not be eligible for our funding - e.g. for profit work or work outside of the UK.

All of our funding awarded is in the public domain via 360 Giving: https://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/our-aims/funding-data/

No, they are of equal importance - no ranking intended.

In essence, yes. As in, we're not an innovation only funder and we don't require you to try and 'repackage' work to make it look new. That said. We would expect there to have been developments, learning and impact regarding influencing change in a system, political or pratice context during the life of an existing grant. So a new application should demonstrate how future work will build on progress in all these areas and to respond to changes in the current cultural and political environment.

Based on this information, I would say that unrestricted funding would be unlikely because education is not one of our priorities. For us to give unrestricted funding, the organisation and its mission as a whole would have to be aligned to our strategy. Project funding can be applied for via our Expression of Interest process at which point the detail could be discussed. But I would reiterate the need to look in detail at our specific priorities and see how closely the work is aligned - in the case of our food and farming work it is around affecting change on the ground (more nature friendly farming, better soil health) and making the food system better for nature and communities.

Thanks for your question. No, not necessarily. If your work is a strong fit to our long-term outcomes, we may only be able to award a project costs grants if your work overall is much broader than our priorities.

The majority of AFF grants are unrestricted, core is rarer and project rarer still. We aim to be a responsive and supportive funder so unrestricted is our preference, but there are circumstances where, due for example to organistional legal structure or areas of work, we opt for core or project funding.

While we might support local organisations that have a broad remit, the work that you apply to Esmée for would need to be a strong match to one of our funding priorities.

Potentially yes - I would advise being clear about what the main priority is and focussing on that. So is it about nature recovery first, with community involvement being the way to make it sustainable long term, in which case the nature recovery element would need to be really strong. Or is it more about access to nature for those groups facing barriers - in which case the specific nature recovery activities may be less important but the groups you are working with and how you are reaching them is the focus.

We assess applications on the basis of the work (or programme) that the funding is sought for. The organisation may also be doing work that falls outside of our funding priorities.

Not necessarily. Better to have a really strong fit to one priority, than a weaker fit to multiple priorities. That said, we do have a really important focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in all our aims so work that improves DEI within the environment sector is always good to hear about.

Most organisations we give grants to are charities, but we do fund other types of organisations – including Community Interest Companies (CICs), and companies limited by guarantee – as long as the work they are doing with our grant funding is legally charitable. A CIC limited by shares is also eligible.

Unfortunately you cannot apply for funding through our open application process if your turnover is <£100k.

In Fairer Future, led by and for we have a threshold of 75% of staff and board. We do fund a range of organisations, not all are led by and for, but we prioritise led by and for. This doesn't preclude organistions that aren't by and for applying, but you should be aware led by and for organisations will have higher priority, aslo that we will be looking at how you support and live DEI throughout your work and organistaional culture.

We may check any publicly available information, this could include social media. If social media is a key part of your organistion's comms and campaigns work then it's more likely we'd take a look. But as a first and standard port of call in our asssessment, it'll be the website we view.

Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to do that.

Applicants don't need to submit accounts at EOI stage. At EOI stage, applicants are asked to state if the meet the £100k threshold. When submitting a full (second stage) proposal, if there has been a change in legal type, the applicant can show accounts for the previous legal type.

We recommend that organisations ask for what they need, there is no maximum amount.

If you don't hear from us within the stated time frame, please send an email to funding@esmeefairbairn.org.uk. we will always get back to you with a decision.

Organisations who have been turned down for funding can apply again, but the new application should not be for the same work and costs. 

Unsuccessful applicants can reapply, but the reason the previous EOI was declined will need to be tackled in the new EOI (i.e. putting in again for the exact same thing is not recommended ). If the application was for unrestricted and was declined. Before reapplying it's highly worth rechecking our FAQs/ eligibility criteria, and the long term outcomes goals for the programme you applied to, to make sure you are able to present very strong evidence you meet the criteria and at least one of those specific outcomes goals.

For requests for both social investment and grant funding:

• If the funding is for the same project, please submit an Expression of Interest for social investment in the first instance.
• If the funding is for different or unrelated projects, please submit separate Expressions of Interest for each type of funding.
• See our guidance for grant applications. You can find our social investment guidance here and our grant guidance here.