ESMEE FAIRBAIRN FOUNDATION

Registered charity 200051 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5398593 · Wikipedia · also known as THE ESMEE FAIRBAIRN CHARITABLE TRUST, THE ESMEE FAIRBAIRN TRUST FUND

We are one of the largest independent foundations in the UK. Our primary interests are in the arts, children and young people, the environment and social change.

Objects

TO FURTHER SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSE OR PURPOSES AS THE TRUSTEES IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION SHALL THINK FIT.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED.

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Islington, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Foundation holds unrestricted reserves of £1.336 billion, which the Trustees consider sufficient to continue as a going concern. The investment portfolio, valued at £1.381 billion, achieved a total return of 9.4% in 2025, outperforming the long-term objective of RPI plus 4%. The Foundation spent £60.7 million on charitable activities and raising funds, supported by investment income of £8.9 million.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Museums team extends helping hand for heritage - thanks to Esmee Fairbairn Foundation orkney.gov.uk · 31/10/2024

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Professor David Hill — Chair, Audit and Risk Committee (source)
• Beatrice Hollond — Chair, Finance and Administration Committee (source)
• Beatrice Hollond — Chair, Governance and Nominations Committee (source)
• Edward Bonham Carter — Chair, Investment Committee (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Electoral Commission register entries

Entries on the Electoral Commission’s public register where this charity (or its company) appears as the source — typically sponsorship of an APPG or an overseas visit provided to an MP, which charities may lawfully do. Shown with the Commission’s own reference; this is a transparency record, not an allegation.

• Cash: Mr Henry Porter (Third Party) — £10k · 06/03/2017 · ref C0334058

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Per its annual return, largest income source: Investments (94% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 36.5% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (24/04/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• BEATRICE HANNAH MILLICENT HOLLONDchair
• Dame Clare Moriarty
• Dr Wanda Wyporska
• Edward Bonham Carter
• Elspeth Jones
• Gautham Radhakrishnan
• Grace Elizabeth Marjorie Hughes-Hallett
• Harriet Manners
• Mary Ann Sieghart
• Professor Claire Elice Alexander
• Professor David Hill

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with JESBROW FOUNDATION.

• JESBROW FOUNDATION income £98k
• THE ASHMORE FOUNDATION income £941k
• THE TAMIR-STERNBERG FOUNDATION income £92k
• EG FOUNDATION income £371k
• THE MARTYN BRACEGIRDLE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION income £148k
• THE WINDFALL FOUNDATION income £143k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.