Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
We aim to improve our natural world, secure a fairer future and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK. We make unrestricted, core and project grants for charitable work in the UK.
Overview
Total reviews: 12
Median 10 hours
Latest Reviews
Nov 21, 2019
Funded for amount requested - applied in 2017
My advice is to read the grant criteria in detail and to make sure you fit the criteria. Keep to advised word counts and answer the questions.
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Gives more than money
Insightful
Builds relationships
Understands nonprofits and issues
Openminded
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for amount requested
What year was this experience?
2017
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Average
They would like to be accessible - the problem is they are so busy they can't respond to emails quickly and are hard to get hold of on the phone.... but a quick conversation would to clarify key questions would save the applicant a lot ot time, and in the end would save the funder time in reading inappropriat applications
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
Creative, seeking change
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Invest time in conversations with applicants - don't do everyting on-line.
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
If you believe the contents of this review are inappropriate please contact us via email.
Oct 17, 2019
Funded for amount requested - applied in 2018
Make sure you use the quiz - it really helps ensure you meet the criteria (and if you don't - look at what you need to do in order to meet them).
Talking with the team certainly helps if possible.
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Gives more than money
Risk taker
Friendly
Builds relationships
Responsive
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for amount requested
What year was this experience?
2018
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Very thoughtful and committed team who provide good feedback
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Find more ways to have a conversation with potential applicants (I know that's difficult!)
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
If you believe the contents of this review are inappropriate please contact us via email.
Oct 15, 2019
applied in 2018
The feedback gives you no idea of what was good about the project/application, what needed work, or what was just not of interest. It’s really hard to know whether you got anywhere close to stage 2 and should apply again.
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2018
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Bad
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Average
If you believe the contents of this review are inappropriate please contact us via email.
Oct 15, 2019
applied in 2019
Try to get to know the individual grant manager well enough so that you can ask questions informally. We went to meet them for a ‘this is where we are now’ kind of conversation. After that, ours was very helpful, receptive and open because they could see what we were trying to do in the context of the rest of our strategy.
Pros
Friendly
Builds relationships
Understands nonprofits and issues
Openminded
Responsive
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2019
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Average
We haven’t spent lots of time considering this because, quite simply, it’s not our priority. It’s hard enough as a small charity to carve out the time to undertake the background research and build potential partnerships necessary to submit proposals. Plus it’s only one of a number of funders that we’re approaching. We don’t have a separate fundraiser/bid writer and would see this sort of observation as an added extra.
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Helpfully open to suggestions, eg working in partnership with another funder.
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Ask what can we do to help you get started? It’s a lot of work for a small charity to submit a bid, with very little guarantee return on investment of time and resources. Is there a way of funding a few more exploratory discussions that would resource the proposal development process?
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
If you believe the contents of this review are inappropriate please contact us via email.
Oct 9, 2019
applied in 2019
Even if you get through to 2nd stage you only have a 10% chance.
Pros
Understands nonprofits and issues
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2019
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Average
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Take less applications through to 2nd stage if still only 10% chance. Thought the vetting process to 1st stage and then to 2nd stage increased your chances more than this.
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
If you believe the contents of this review are inappropriate please contact us via email.
Reply from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Mar 22, 2023
Thanks for your response, and we're sorry to hear you got the impression that only 10% of 2nd stage applications are approved. Looking at the data, this isn't the case.
- So far this year we've declined 28 2nd stage applications (14.2%). In other words, we've approved 169 (85.8%) of 2nd stage applications.
- In 2018 we declined 52 2nd stage applications (17.2%) and approved 250 (82.2%).
We're committed to reducing wasted effort in grant applications, and are currently researching the clearest way to ask application questions as part of this work.
If you'd like to know more, please take a look at our Annual Report.
Nov 21, 2019
Funded for amount requested - applied in 2017
My advice is to read the grant criteria in detail and to make sure you fit the criteria. Keep to advised word counts and answer the questions.
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Gives more than money
Insightful
Builds relationships
Understands nonprofits and issues
Openminded
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for amount requested
What year was this experience?
2017
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Average
They would like to be accessible - the problem is they are so busy they can't respond to emails quickly and are hard to get hold of on the phone.... but a quick conversation would to clarify key questions would save the applicant a lot ot time, and in the end would save the funder time in reading inappropriat applications
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
Creative, seeking change
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Invest time in conversations with applicants - don't do everyting on-line.
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Oct 17, 2019
Funded for amount requested - applied in 2018
Make sure you use the quiz - it really helps ensure you meet the criteria (and if you don't - look at what you need to do in order to meet them).
Talking with the team certainly helps if possible.
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Gives more than money
Risk taker
Friendly
Builds relationships
Responsive
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for amount requested
What year was this experience?
2018
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Very thoughtful and committed team who provide good feedback
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Find more ways to have a conversation with potential applicants (I know that's difficult!)
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Oct 15, 2019
applied in 2018
The feedback gives you no idea of what was good about the project/application, what needed work, or what was just not of interest. It’s really hard to know whether you got anywhere close to stage 2 and should apply again.
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2018
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Bad
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Average
Oct 15, 2019
applied in 2019
Try to get to know the individual grant manager well enough so that you can ask questions informally. We went to meet them for a ‘this is where we are now’ kind of conversation. After that, ours was very helpful, receptive and open because they could see what we were trying to do in the context of the rest of our strategy.
Pros
Friendly
Builds relationships
Understands nonprofits and issues
Openminded
Responsive
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2019
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Average
We haven’t spent lots of time considering this because, quite simply, it’s not our priority. It’s hard enough as a small charity to carve out the time to undertake the background research and build potential partnerships necessary to submit proposals. Plus it’s only one of a number of funders that we’re approaching. We don’t have a separate fundraiser/bid writer and would see this sort of observation as an added extra.
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Helpfully open to suggestions, eg working in partnership with another funder.
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Ask what can we do to help you get started? It’s a lot of work for a small charity to submit a bid, with very little guarantee return on investment of time and resources. Is there a way of funding a few more exploratory discussions that would resource the proposal development process?
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Oct 9, 2019
applied in 2019
Even if you get through to 2nd stage you only have a 10% chance.
Pros
Understands nonprofits and issues
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2019
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Average
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Take less applications through to 2nd stage if still only 10% chance. Thought the vetting process to 1st stage and then to 2nd stage increased your chances more than this.
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Reply from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Mar 22, 2023
Thanks for your response, and we're sorry to hear you got the impression that only 10% of 2nd stage applications are approved. Looking at the data, this isn't the case. - So far this year we've declined 28 2nd stage applications (14.2%). In other words, we've approved 169 (85.8%) of 2nd stage applications. - In 2018 we declined 52 2nd stage applications (17.2%) and approved 250 (82.2%). We're committed to reducing wasted effort in grant applications, and are currently researching the clearest way to ask application questions as part of this work. If you'd like to know more, please take a look at our Annual Report.