We aim to improve our natural world, secure a fairer future and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK.

Turner Contemporary

Keep up-to-date with our latest news

Sign up to our newsletter

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.

Great Crested Newt

Our Natural World

We want  to ensure that our natural world is restored and protected and that people benefit from that recovery. Working with others, we will contribute to three key impact goals: preserved and improved species health and habitats, clean and healthy freshwater, and sustainable and ethical food.

Find out more
Advocacy Academy

A Fairer Future

We want to contribute to a socially just and anti-racist society, where people have their rights protected, as well as the opportunity to speak and be heard, and the freedom to express their creativity. And across all our work in A Fairer Future, we are keen to support organisations led by the people they serve.

Find out more
Hijinx Theatre

Creative, Confident Communities

We want to strengthen the bonds in communities, helping local people to build vibrant, confident places where they can fulfil their creative, human and economic potential. Places where the local economy works better for the people who live there, where there is equality of access to arts and culture, and where communities are at the heart of change.

Find out more

Our impact

  • £1,025m

    Total grants made since 1961

  • £52.9m

    Funding spend in 2025

  • £14.3m

    Approved social investment in 2025

  • 67%

    Grants for core or unrestricted costs in 2025

Discover more
Latest

You might be interested in

  • People working together outdoors in a green field, crouching and holding tools while tending plants and tying or installing lines among the grass.
    16 October 2026

    Space for nature: what we’re learning and what next for Esmée

    Esmée’s Director of Our Natural World, Liam McAleese, reflects on the findings of a review into our work towards space for nature and the recommendations for Esmée’s work going forwards.

    Read more
  • A nature-themed collage with a green landscape, birds and animals in illustration, a circular photo of a waterfall/river, and a small scene of people working in a field

    Nature recovery needs more than “fairy dust” to create lasting change, report finds

    Across the UK, communities, farmers and charities are showing nature recovery is possible, and it has benefits for food security, local economies and climate resilience. However, systemic barriers are holding back progress. Esmée's new Space for Nature report by 3KQ calls for greater and sustained investment to create lasting change.

    Read more
  • Nudge Community Builders-Union Street Party 2023 (Hanna Collins)

    Community-driven enterprise and regeneration review: Invitation to tender

    We are looking to work with an external consultant or organisation to review our work and funding towards our Community-driven enterprise and regeneration priority.

    Read more
  • View from a hillside over a patchwork countryside of green fields and hedgerows, with a winding road through trees and distant hills beneath cloudy skies-Stroud

    Is resilience the new greenwash?

    Esmée’s Director of Our Natural World, Liam McAleese, reflects on growing concerns about climate-related risks in food and farming and what genuine resilience means. He also shares how we’re thinking about this in our work on nature-friendly farming, as well our role as an investor.

    Read more