Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Overview

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is one of the UK's largest independent funders, established in 1961 by Ian Fairbairn in memory of his wife. The foundation aims to improve the quality of life for people and communities across the UK by funding projects in the arts, education, environment, and social change sectors. In 2025, it provided £52.9 million in funding, with a £60 million allocation to social investments and a £10 million allocation to impact investments. The foundation's mission is to improve the natural world, secure a fairer future, and strengthen community bonds in the UK. It focuses on areas where other funders are unlikely to be available, including novel and more risky projects, and may provide core funding and loans rather than grants. The foundation also initiates some projects, such as 'Rethinking Crime & Punishment' in 2002–2005. In 2020, in response to structural inequality, climate change, and COVID-19, the charity changed its strategy to provide longer-term support to predetermined areas rather than responding to requests. The objective was to ensure it achieved as much as it could with its resources and access, in particular collaborating with other like-minded organizations. The foundation's funding priorities include improving species health and habitats, ensuring clean and healthy freshwater, promoting sustainable and ethical food, contributing to a socially just and anti-racist society, and strengthening communities through arts and culture. It supports organizations with annual turnovers over £100,000 that are legally charitable. The foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees who meet six times each year to set and oversee the delivery of the Foundation’s strategy. Trustees include Sir Jonathan Phillips (chair, from 2019), Tom Chandos, Joe Docherty, John Fairbairn, Beatrice Hollond, Thomas Hughes-Hallett, Kate Lampard, William Sieghart, Eleanor Updale, and Edward Bonham-Carter.

Investment Focus

• Organizations with annual turnover over £100,000 doing work that is legally charitable.