Details

The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund supports museums to improve their inclusive collections and participatory practice with community partners. The fund will place more emphasis on equitable working, supporting wellbeing and legacy planning. They now offer core grants to single museum organisations for strategic development of their inclusive collections work; and partnership project grants for museums and community organisations working equitably with collections to achieve shared aims for inclusion.

For core grants, applications from single organisations must:

• Be for work that accelerates progress towards the established strategic aims of the applicant in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion. Applicants will describe their local context and existing relationships with community and stakeholder groups and provide evidence of strategies and plans for inclusion.
• Work with existing collections to engage community groups, partners and/or stakeholders in prominent, democratised and/or community-led roles.

For partnership project grant, applications must:

• Come from an equitable partnership between museum(s) and community organisation(s) that have developed the application together and that have an existing relationship on which to build.
• Be for a time-limited project working with existing collections towards shared aims for diversity, equity and inclusion.

It is an essential requirement of the Collections Fund that applicants use collections to further their aims for inclusion; and that community groups, partners and/or stakeholders have prominent roles in your work.

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Geographical areas funded: UK

Fund type

Type of funding:

Grant

Type of cost:

Revenue, Core costs

Fund award sizes

Minimum:

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Maximum:

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Notes on award amounts:

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Who can apply

The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund is open to all museums and galleries in the United Kingdom. Applicants from within the museum sector must be members of the Museums Association. They expect to fund smaller and medium sized organisations where funding of this size can make the most difference in the long term, for example as a higher proportion of turnover.

When to apply

Now open. The next deadline for submissions of interest is 16 July 2025 (confirmation by w/c 11 August).

Next deadline: 16 Jul 2025

How to apply

There will be a two-stage application process. The first stage is to submit an expression of interest using the form available to download from the Fund website.

Contact information

Exclusions

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Activites funded: Arts and culture Heritage and building preservation

Beneficiaries funded: General public

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Last reviewed 3 days ago