Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Annual Report and Accounts 2020
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Chief Executive’s Report If ever there was a year for funders of all kinds to step up, 2020 was it. Many independent funders, including Esmée, have increased spending and changed their ways of working – moving towards more open and trusting grant-making to make life easier for those we fund. We welcome this and want to ensure these principles continue beyond the pandemic.
* Excludes Funding Plus and TASK grants.
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Overview
Our Natural World
Despite its privileges, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has had to make many changes and adjustments during this year, as well as trying to use our assets to respond to the COVID pandemic in the best way. My heartfelt thanks to the wonderful team and our excellent trustees; we have navigated this difficult year together with pragmatic compassion. We have all been inspired by the extraordinary organisations that we support and the wider charitable sector in continuing with their essential work against the odds. During the year, we provided £36.1m* (2019: £35.8m) in grant funding to 212 (2019: 195) remarkable organisations in the UK. In addition to this, we provided a £16.1m emergency response to COVID which included giving top-up, unrestricted grants to 545 organisations in our portfolio. A Fairer Future
Creative, Confident Communities
Infrastucture and New Ideas
Our decision to allocate the money instead of asking organisations to apply meant that we could move quickly and effectively.
Our new website gives details of the transition of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation into a more purposeful and proactive funder that is prepared to use all its resources to unlock change to deliver Our endowment has performed well in a volatile and unpredictable year. The return against its aims. To keep our strategy fresh and relevant, we work with an on our overall investment portfolio was 12%, helped by our investments in venture external Advisory Panel for Our Natural World and our Involving Young People funds and incorporating our increased Collective. I am very grateful for the commitment to enhanced environmental, time, insights and honesty that both have social and governance (ESG) investments. We have begun to use our position as asset provided during such challenging times. owners to be more engaged with those As part of our new strategy, we that manage our investments as part of have worked hard to articulate our our work on ESG. commitment to social justice and equity. Racial justice is a critical element in this, We launched our new strategy in October and we are committed to listening, learning with three key aims: to improve our and dedicating resources to addressing natural world, secure a fairer future and structural and systemic racism in the UK. to strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK. Funding in Partnership
COVID Emergency Grants
Social Investment
TASK Fund
Trustees’ Report
Accounts
