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Funding
Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund
About this fund
The Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund (formerly called the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund) is run by the Museums Association (MA) on behalf of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and has awarded over £14 million in nearly 200 grants since 2011.
In 2022, the Fund was reviewed and updated to prioritise inclusion using collections, enhance learning from the grants it offered, and offer core funding for the first time.
In 2024 the funders reviewed the impact of the changes they had made and sought input from stakeholders in museums and community organisations. As a result, they have relaunched the fund as the Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund. The new name better represents its dual focus on collections and inclusion.
Objectives of Fund
The Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund supports museums and their community partners to improve inclusion and equitable working with community partners.
The fund offers:
- Core grants to museums that have established strategic aims for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and that are ready to use their collections and the funding to support social and climate justice, in ways that are relevant to local contexts and relationships.
- Partnership project grants to museums and community organisations that work equitably together and share aims for DEI, and which have ambitious and compelling ideas for inclusive project work with collections.
The Fund will offer £1.185 million per year in 2025 and 2026.
Grants of between £40,000 and £100,000 are available over a period of up to three years.
It is expected that around 12 grants will be awarded per year.
Who Can Apply
Applications are open to all Museums Association institutional member museums and galleries in the UK.
Eligible applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Partnership applications must include at least one MA institutional member museum partner. It is expected that the museum partner(s) will hold collections that will be used during the partnership project and that a museum partner is typically well positioned to receive and coordinate funding on behalf of the group.
- Applicants, or one applicant in a partnership, are normally expected to be accredited (or working towards this). However, occasional exceptions may be made for organisations that are not accredited museums, but whose activities are based on the care and interpretation of collections of historical, artistic or scientific interest, provided they are in the public sector or have charitable status.
- For core grants, the funders expect to fund smaller and medium sized museums where funding of this size can make the most long-term difference, for example as a higher proportion of turnover. National and larger museums may apply, but applications should reflect their capacity to influence the sector more widely and to develop museum practice.
- Applicants must have a safeguarding policy to protect people with whom they work.
Organisations that have received a Collections Fund grant in the past are welcome to apply for core or partnership grants that build on their experience.
Those that have received core funding may reapply for a new phase of work when their funding period is ending. It is likely that only two grants per year will be made to recent grantees as it is not intended for this fund to offer continuous funding.
Restrictions
The following are not eligible for funding:
- Capital costs, including building work, renovations and equipment.
- Grants to individuals or to causes that will benefit only one person, including student grants or bursaries.
- Work that does not have a direct benefit in the UK.
- Replacing or subsidising statutory income, although rare exceptions will be made where the level of performance has been exceptional and where the potential impact of the work is substantial.
- The promotion of religion.
- Retrospective costs, meaning support for work that has already taken place.
- General appeals or circulars.
Resubmissions will not be accepted unless they have been specifically invited by the Museums Association.
Eligible Expenditure
Applications can be made for core and project funding.
The fund has a twin focus on inclusion and collections. It is anticipated that this will result in work that explores and influences key themes in social and climate justice, such as wellbeing, decolonisation, climate crisis, antiracism and others.
To be considered for a core grant, 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.
To be considered for a 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.
Applications will be assessed for:
- A strong link between the people the applicant wishes to work with, the collections they expect to use and the topics or themes that they will explore.
- Progress towards leading participatory practice and/or equitable working.
- The beneficial impact on the organisation(s) and individuals within it, and, where appropriate, the wider museums sector, or partners from other sectors.
- The ambition, innovation, creativity and/or approach to risk of the work, in the context of the museum/partnership.
- Feasibility within the headline budget and timescale, and the value for money.
- How the applicant will manage the end of the funding period and sustain or build on the benefits of funding.
The funders will use the MA’s Power to the People framework as a measure of organisational change in funded museums.
How To Apply
There are two funding rounds per year.
Guidance notes and the expression of interest form are available on the Museums Association website.
There is a two stage application process:
- From February 2026 onwards interested applicants can contact the MA to discuss their ideas.
- Applicants then submit an Expression of Interest form by the deadline of 22 July 2026.
- Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a second-stage application by 4 November 2026.
- Grants for this round to be awarded mid December 2026.
Applicants should initially contact a member of Communities and Collections Fund staff at the MA before submitting an EOI to ensure that the fund is a good fit and to help draw out the strengths in their application.
Contact the Museums Association for further information.
Looking for support with funding?
Identifying funding opportunities and writing grant applications can seem overwhelming, especially when the future sustainability of your group is dependent on gaining funding support.
Our supportive Funding Officer, Claire Shaw, can help your organisation with every step of the funding application process, from carrying out funding searches to proofreading your application.
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Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund
