Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Applicant Perception Research: Complete findings

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

2024 applicant survey complete findings

April 2024

I. About the respondents and their operating context

II. Perceptions of your application process

III. The views of your fundees

IV. The views of your unsuccessful applicants

V. Values and who you could learn from

About this research

Online survey of fundees and unsuccessful applicants

29th January – 26th February 2024

Fundees

699 191 27%

Emails sent Responses Response rate

Unsuccessful applicants

1,765 258 15% Emails sent Responses Response rate

Benchmarking

We have included a ‘benchmark average’ on some slides. This is based on comparable research conducted with the following funding organisations since 2013:

• A B Charitable Trust

• BBC Children in Need

• The Clothworkers’ Foundation

• Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland

• Cumbria Community Foundation

• Garfield Weston Foundation

• The Henry Smith Charity

• John Ellerman Foundation

• Lloyds Bank Foundation

• Nominet Trust

• People’s Postcode lottery

• Pilgrim Trust

• The Road Safety Trust

• Tudor Trust

• The Wolfson Foundation

• The sample size of the benchmark is approximately 13,000 applicants, although this varies according to the question asked

Key findings

• The landscape for your applicants: your applicants are operating in a tough environment, battling the challenges of increased demand and greater financial instability. Nevertheless, they remain incredibly resilient, with a strong majority feeling they are making more progress towards their aims compared to 12 months ago.

• Your personality and values: your applicants see you as a forward-thinking, innovative, ambitious and knowledgeable funder. Your fundees know you particularly well, while your unsuccessful applicants are more likely to recognise your organisational value of ‘working together’ compared to in 2021.

• Your relationship with your fundees: you have continued your strong performance with fundees on relational metrics such as approachability, understanding and treating them as partners. There is also clear appetite from fundees for you to connect them with other organisations in your network.

• Your application process: there has been clear improvement in perceptions of the reasonableness of your application process when compared to 2021. This is likely driven by changes to the Expression of Interest (EOI), with both fundees and unsuccessful applicants feeling that the ease and duration of the application process has improved significantly.

• Barriers encountered by your applicants: less positively, the percentage of your applicants who feel they have encountered barriers to accessing your funding has increased. Unsuccessful applicants cite a range of reasons, but most commonly they feel that without an existing connection, the door to your network is shut for them.

• Feedback and clarity on rejection: while more of your unsuccessful applicants say they are receiving feedback compared to 2021, they are more likely to find it unhelpful than helpful. Unsuccessful applicants are particularly frustrated by not knowing the specifics of the reason for their rejection. This often leaves them guessing and could be connected to the increase in perceived barriers.

• Your actions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): around two-thirds of your fundees and half of your unsuccessful applicants are aware of your actions on DEI. Generally, applicants think you are showing great leadership in this important area; they want you to keep seeking to learn from underrepresented groups and continue sharing updates on the actions you are taking.

About the respondents

Most recent application status

Question asked:

"Were you successful with your most recent application to Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?"

Unsuccessful

Previously applied?

Question asked:

"Had you applied to Esmée Fairbairn Foundation previously?"

No, this was our first application

We have applied before and been unsuccessful

We have received funding previously AND been unsuccessful before

We have received funding previously

Other (please specify)

Not sure Fundee

Unsuccessful applicant

Funding type

Question asked:

"What funding did you apply for in your most recent application?"

Source: Esmée Fairbairn Foundation applicant survey Jan/Feb 2024 | Base: 191 fundees and 258 unsuccessful applicants

Recency of application

Question asked:

"When was your most recent application to Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?"

Not sure / Don't know

Fundee

Unsuccessful applicant

Funding applications per year

Question asked:

"How many grant applications, approximately, would you estimate your organisation makes per year?"

Fundee

Unsuccessful applicant

Not sure

Region

Question asked:

"Which region/country does your organisation primarily operate in?"

Fundee

Unsuccessful applicant

Sector

Question asked:

"Which sector does your organisation primarily operate in? Please select the most relevant option from the list below."

Arts, culture, heritage

Children and young people

Environment

Community development (Communities working together for change, Community enterprise and regeneration)

Social justice and human rights (Gender Justice, Racial Justice, Migrant Justice)

Other (please specify)

Organisation’s annual income

Question asked:

"What is your organisation’s total annual income (approximately)?"

£11k - £25k

£26k - £50k

£51k - £100k

£101k - £250k

£251k - £500k

£501k

Restricted income

Question asked:

"What percentage of your income would you estimate is restricted in some way (e.g. funds a specific project or service)?"

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Identity / lived experience of leadership team

Question asked:

“Do the majority of the people who lead your organisation belong to a specific group?

By this, we mean that 75% board, and 50% of senior staff share a particular identity or lived experience.”

Source: Esmée

A local community

Communities experiencing racial inequity

Disabled people

Faith communities

LGBT+ people

Migrants

Older people

Children and young people

People who are educationally or economically disadvantaged

Women and girls

Welsh Language speaking

Community background (Northern Ireland)

Other shared lived experience

Prefer not to say

No specific group

Fundee

Unsuccessful applicant

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Identity / lived experience of beneficiaries

Question asked:

"Is your work aimed at a specific group or groups of people?

By this, we mean that 75% or more of the people receiving or targeted for support share a particular identity or lived experience.”

A local community

Communities experiencing racial inequity Disabled people Faith communities LGBT+ people Migrants Older people

Children and young people

People who are educationally or economically disadvantaged

Women and girls

Welsh Language speaking

Community background (Northern Ireland)

Other shared lived experience

Prefer not to say

No specific group

Broadly speaking, your fundees are in a stronger position than your unsuccessful applicants

Question asked:

"Esmée Fairbairn Foundation wants to understand more about the context within which you are operating –what are your priorities and challenges? The next question asks about your organisation’s experiences during the past 12 months. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?"

Strongly agree + Agree

Demand for our services has increased in the last 12 months

We're making more progress towards our aims than we were 12 months ago

We have been less able to meet our reserves policy during the last 12 months

We have found it harder to recruit and retain staff during the last 12 months

The financial stability of our organisation is stronger now than it was 12 months ago

Our staff team has reduced over the last 12 months

Our charity is at greater risk of closure compared to 12 months ago

The application process

Unsuccessful applicants rate their overall experience of the application process less well than the benchmark average

Fundees

Unsuccessful applicants

Question

Unsuccessful applicants’ overall experience of the application process have improved compared to 2021

Question

Source:

Average number of hours spent on stages of the application process(Demographics)

Question asked:

"How many hours would you estimate you spent on the following aspects of your funding request / grant application to Lloyds Bank Foundation?"

Average number of hours

Reading guidance and deciding to apply

Preparing and submitting Expression of Interest

Fundee

Unsuccessful applicant

Preparing and submitting funding proposal

Post application clarifications and follow up

Length of time to decision

Fundees

Question asked:

"How long did it take for a decision to be made on your funding request / grant application?"

Benchmark

To show:

Esmee

Length of time to decision

Question asked:

"How long did it take for a decision to be made on your funding request / grant application?"

Unsuccessful applicants consider the time to decision quicker than the benchmark average

Question asked:

"Would you consider this to be..."

To show:

Applicants are more likely to consider the decision time very quick compared to 2021

Question asked:

"Would you consider this to be..." Trend

Staff helpfulness (during application)

Question asked:

"How helpful were Esmée Fairbairn Foundation staff while making your application?"

Benchmark

Staff helpfulness (during application)

Question asked:

"How helpful were Esmée Fairbairn Foundation staff while making your application?"

Don't know / Not applicable

Don't know / Not applicable

Grants webinar attendance

Question asked:

"Did you attend or watch a grants webinar and Q&A by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to get more information to help you with your application?"

Unsuccessful applicant

Fundee

Website use

Question asked:

"Did you use Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s website to access information to help you with your application?"

Benchmark

Don’t remember

Fundees

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Benchmark Average

Unsuccessful applicants

Don’t remember

Website use

Fundees Unsuccessful

Question asked:

"Did you use Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s website to access information to help you with your application?"

Trend

Helpfulness of website

Question asked:

"How helpful did you find Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s website for accessing the information you needed to submit your application?"

Benchmark

Don’t know

Fundees Unsuccessful applicants

Neither

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Benchmark Average

Don’t know

Esmee

Helpfulness of website (Trend)

Question asked:

"How helpful did you find Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s website for accessing the information you needed to submit your application?"

Trend

Don’t know

Don’t know

Perceptions of the reasonableness of the application process are broadly

in line with the

benchmark average

Question asked:

"How reasonable did the application process feel for the amount of funding you were applying for?"

Benchmark

Changes to the Expression of Interest (EOI) look to have made a real difference to perceptions of the application process)

Question asked:

"How reasonable did the application process feel for the amount of funding you were applying for?"

By survey link

Unsuccessful applicants’ perceptions of the reasonableness of the application process have recently improved

Question asked:

"How reasonable did the application process feel for the amount of funding you were applying for?"

An increased proportion of unsuccessful applicants feel they encountered barriers compared to 2021

Fundees

Question asked:

"Would you say that your organisation has experienced any barriers to accessing funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?"

Would you say that your organisation has experienced any barriers to accessing funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?

Answered Yes

Common themes

• No prior connection – can’t get into Esmée's existing network

• Limited dialogue – no means to seek advice during application / lack of useful feedback

• Lack of fundraising capacity / resources at our organisation

• Restrictiveness of DEI criteria – hard to convey complexity / nuances / multiple lived experiences

• We have been unsuccessful several times

• Geography – our work is limited to a particular area / Esmée are not in close proximity to us

• We’re not a good fit for Esmée's strategy / we are not seen as innovative enough

• Esmée doesn’t understand our sector / doesn’t want to fund our work

“The majority of orgs I know who have Esmée funding have personal connections with staff.” Unsuccessful applicant

“We don't know anyone who can help us get in the door.” Unsuccessful applicant

“No assistance from a grants officer at application stage and no feedback after decision.” Unsuccessful applicant

“All forms of fundraising take up considerable capacity - small organisations like the one I work for will always face this barrier compared to larger organisations such as those who have dedicated fundraising staff/teams.” Unsuccessful applicant

“No conversation about the complexities and nuances of our approach to DEI and how we ensure we are representative of the people we work with based on their defining characteristics.” Unsuccessful applicant

Fundees’ perceptions

Value of funding

Question asked:

"What is the value of the funding in total over its lifetime?"

Source: Esmée Fairbairn Foundation applicant survey Jan/Feb 2024 | Base: 191 respondents

Level of contact

Question asked: "As a fundee, how much contact do you have with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?" Benchmark

Level of contact

Question asked:

"As a fundee, how much contact do you have with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?"

Understanding of fundees

Question asked:

Benchmark

Esmee Fairbairn

Understanding of fundees

Question asked:

"How well do you feel Esmée Fairbairn Foundation understands your organisation and its aims?"

Trend

Don't know

Helpfulness of Funding Manager

Question asked:

"How helpful was your Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Funding Manager after you received your funding?"

Benchmark

Esmee

Helpfulness of Funding Manager

Question asked:

"How helpful was your Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Funding Manager after you received your funding?"

Neither helpful nor unhelpful

Quite unhelpful

Very unhelpful

Don’t know

Source: Esmée

Helpfulness of other Esmée staff

Question asked:

"How helpful were other Esmée Fairbairn Foundation staff after you received your funding?"

Benchmark

Esmee

Helpfulness of other Esmée staff

Question asked:

"How helpful were other Esmée Fairbairn Foundation staff after you received your funding?" Trend

Source: Esmée

Quite

Neither helpful nor unhelpful

Quite unhelpful

Very unhelpful

Don’t know

Difficulty of reporting

Question asked:

Esmee

Difficulty of reporting

Question asked:

"How did you find the reporting back on the funding once it was awarded?"

Excluding those who answered ‘We are still to report back’ Trend

Somewhat difficult

Not very difficult

Not at all difficult

Don't know

Comparison to other funders - Fundees

Question asked:

"When you think about your experience of applying for and getting funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, how would you say they compare with other grantmakers?"

Source: Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

Fundees feel the ease and duration of the application process has improved significantly since 2021

Question asked:

"When you think about your experience of applying for and getting funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, how would you say they compare with other grantmakers?" Much better + Better Trend

Approachability of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation overall

Understanding us as fundees

The ease of the application process

Information about funding and application process Treating us as partners Appropriate monitoring Restrictiveness of funding programmes

How long it takes to make an application The speed of decision

Source:

Esmée outperform the benchmark in many areas for fundees, most notably understanding them

and appropriate monitoring

Question asked:

"When you think about your experience of applying for and getting funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, how would you say they compare with other grantmakers?" Much better + Better Benchmark

Appropriateness of funding

Question asked:

"How appropriate was the type of funding you received from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation in enabling your organisation to achieve its objectives?" Trend

Source: Esmée

Very appropriate

Somewhat appropriate

Neither appropriate nor inappropriate

Quite inappropriate

Don’t know

Very inappropriate

Accessed Funding Plus(Trend)

Question asked:

"Has your organisation accessed Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s Funding Plus offer during the period of your funding?"

Yes and it was helpful

Yes but it wasn’t very helpful

No because we didn’t need to

No because we were not eligible

No and we would have found it helpful

We have not accessed it yet but plan to do so in the future

Can’t remember / Not sure

Fundees

are open to being connected with other organisations; they’d be most likely to meet with those doing similar work

Question asked:

"If

Fairbairn

Source: Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

“If Esmée Fairbairn Foundation were to connect you to other funded organisations, how likely are you to make time to meet with them?” Please use this space to explain your answer, if relevant (1 of 2)

Openness to connections

• “As an organisation we benefit enormously from sharing experiences and challenges. We do so regularly with partner organisations like RSPB, but a wider perspective is very helpful and we don't always have those wider connections.” Fundee, £5m - £10m, Environment

• “We would welcome the chance to be linked with other organisations and be part of sharing good practice and learning from others as part of a community of practice.” Fundee, £501k - £1m, Arts, culture, heritage

• “We are a member organisation and already work with those in our sector but contact with other sectors with similar challenges would be a great opportunity. The issues we deal with can sometimes marginalise our organisation in the charity sector, so opportunities to build alliances across sectors would be great.” Fundee, £501k - £1m, Social justice and human rights

• “I think many of us need to work more collaboratively across different social justice ‘fields', because all the struggles are connected. Geographical connections / thematic connections are important but cross -sector meetings might help to bring down the silos.” Fundee, £251k - £500k, Social justice and human rights

• “We cannot do everything alone, we are more than happy to learn from others and to share our own experiences ... good and bad!” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Community Development

• “We are always eager to learn from others and explore possibilities of partnership working.” Fundee, £251k - £500k, Arts, culture, heritage

• “I think it would be great to be connected to other organisations trying to do similar work, so we can learn from eachothers experiences” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Environment

“If Esmée Fairbairn Foundation were to connect you to other funded organisations, how likely are you to make time to meet with them?” Please use this space to explain your answer, if relevant (2 of 2)

Time barriers / constraints

• “I've answered not sure because many factors would come into play. We may already have a connection if in our local area. As a super busy organisation, we may not have the capacity time wise. However, if the above were not the case we'd be very likely to connect with other organisations.” Fundee, £251k - £500k, Arts, culture, heritage

• “I think that there is a great willingness to connect with other orgs to network and share expertise. The main barrier is time - especially at a senior level but we can clearly see the benefits of working with others.” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Social justice and human rights

• “Biggest challenges is finding the time to meet up with others, I think we should always be learning and building our networks, finding other allies in new spaces, even if you disagree with other approaches to work it is beneficial to improve our own practice.” Fundee, £101k - £250k, Children and Young People

Need to be clear of the benefits

• “I really see the benefit of linking up with others where there is genuine synergy. It’s true that its often very hard to make time when it comes to it ....but something like joint training sessions with other organisations would work well, and not just being one offs. There has to be a real purpose to it rather than just putting people in a room together,- something to work as an incentive to make the time to do it when everyone is so pushed. But it could also be presented as a treat for the project staff- i.e., a time to learn or reflect and be valued to, It can often feel quite lonely as a leader in a community organisation.” Fundee, £101k - £250k, Community development

• “It would depend on why we were meeting and what we hoped to get from it. Time is very precious so I would need to understand expectations.” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Children and Young People

“If Esmée Fairbairn Foundation were to give you specific, additional support to address the climate crisis in your work, what would you find most useful?” (1 of 2)

Training / Advice

• Advice on how to further reduce our carbon footprint and/or funding for specialist advice or to offset the additional carbon cost of our activity - we are committed to being net zero by 2030.” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Environment

• “Resources to create a plan to help our organisation reach net zero in the short term, and near actual zero in the longer term. Esmee could no doubt show leadership in the philanthropy sector by helping its portfolio to do so” Fundee, Not sure (income), Environment

• “Potentially supporting continuous review of our policies and practice in this area.” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Children and young people

• “Support with environmental policies, support with costs of e-services, servers, tech and travel costs (trains costs growing hugely!) Support with moving to different types of energy plans. Support with making environmental choices for print/purchases.” Fundee, £501k - £1m, Children and young people

Funding

• “We would find it useful to receive additional funding for this particular crisis and to be partnered with other organisations with similar values to us who are doing work in this area.” Fundee, £101k - £250k, Children and young people

• “Funding to support additional staff capacity to drive climate crisis work would be very helpful.” Fundee, £5m

- £10m, Arts, culture, heritage

• “Yes. Addressing the climate crisis together is one of the major priorities for our members, but we are finding it very hard to fund.” Fundee, £501k - £1m, Children and young people, Social justice and human rights

“If Esmée Fairbairn Foundation were to give you specific, additional support to address the climate crisis in your work, what would you find most useful?” (2 of 2)

Networking:

• “Shared environmental learnings in areas where we don't have direct experience, but which are relevant to our activities.” Fundee, £251k - £500k, Environment

• “Opportunities to meet in person with similar organisations doing similar things to share ideas/ resources.” Fundee, £51k - £100k, Environment

• “Maybe networking multiple fundees to see how we could collaborate to contribute to the solutions” Fundee, £251k - £500k, Arts, culture, heritage

• “Concrete suggestions as to how to incorporate solutions in our work. Linking us with organisations specialising in reducing our footprint. Link us up with organisations focussed on climate crisis who could connect us with decision makers on these issues, and share tips on gaining traction or developing policy that supports this in our work.” Fundee, £501k - £1m, Social justice and human rights

Energy Audits / Assessments:

• “Energy audit of facilities and grant funding to implement greener solutions. Help fund land acquisitions for tree planting/sequestration projects” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Environment

• “An assessment about what we can do to reduce our climate footprint” Fundee, £1m - £5m, Social justice and human rights

Unsuccessful applicants’ perceptions

Stage turned down

Question asked:

"At which stage was your application turned down?"

First stage (Expression of Interest [EOI] only) – we were turned down after submitting an EOI with no further contact

Source: Esmée Fairbairn

First stage (EOI and phone call) – we were turned down after submitting an Expression of Interest and having a follow up phone call

Second stage – we were turned down after submitting a detailed application

I don't know

Unsuccessful applicants are less clear on the reason for their rejection compared to the benchmark average

Clarity on refusal

Question asked:

"How clear was it why Esmée Fairbairn Foundation declined your application?"

When feedback is received, unsuccessful applicants are almost twice as likely

to find it unhelpful

Question asked:

"Did you receive any feedback on why your proposal was unsuccessful?"

Benchmark

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

Unsuccessful applicants are more likely to have received feedback compared to 2021

Question asked:

"Did you receive any feedback on why your proposal was unsuccessful?" Trend

Yes but it wasn't very useful No and I would have found it useful Yes and it was useful No but that was OK Can't remember/Not sure

A summary of what unsuccessful applicants said on the topic of feedback

Yes I received feedback but it wasn’t very useful:

• Generic rejection that lacked specific details; it didn’t feel like it applied to us

• High volume of applications is not a helpful reason

• Sometimes terminology felt unclear / jargon-like, e.g. ‘driving change’, ‘breaking new ground’

• It felt a bit cryptic; it left me guessing

• Told we didn’t meet strategic aims but we need more detail; we think we are a good fit

• Some reports of contradictory information received at different stages of the process

• We want to know whether it’s worth trying again / how to make a better application

Yes I received feedback and I found it useful:

• Signposting to other funding sources was useful

• Good experience speaking to a member of staff after being rejected

• The feedback wasn’t what we wanted to hear but it allowed us to move forward

• It was polite and to the point General comments on what useful feedback looks like for them:

• Specific on the criteria we didn’t meet

• Recommends how we could be successful (if this is indeed the case)

• Shows us how we scored / where we were weaker or stronger against other applicants

• Share examples of successful bids

• Be honest with us

Did you receive any feedback on why your proposal was unsuccessful?

Our rejection felt too generic and left us guessing

We’re not sure why we don’t fit Esmée's strategic objectives

“Everyone we knew received the same feedback.”

“The feedback felt vague and somewhat cryptic, it stated that the assessor saw something either on our website or in our accounts that meant that we were not a fit, but this wasn't elaborated on.”

“We were told that our work is not the best fit for your strategy at the moment, but it would have been helpful to hear more about why this is the case.”

Yes but it wasn’t very useful

“The feedback was that there was a lot of applications, so while we know that is the case, more info on how to make our application stronger / why it wasn't successful compared to ones which were, would also be helpful. But we understand this is not always possible time-wise.”

“Feedback was that our work wasn't the right fit for the current strategy, however from everything we looked at on the website we felt that the work is a strong fit so it would have been helpful to have more detail to help us to understand this.”

“The feedback was highly generic - only said that EFF was receiving a lot of applications and we didn't match their funding criteria.”

“There was nothing to indicate how we could have made a better application, nor was there anything to say how the project was less in line with the strategy at the moment than other organisations.”

“It explained that we didn't fit their strategy at the moment but not what in particular was the problem or how we could have made it more clear.”

Did you receive any feedback on why your proposal was unsuccessful?

Feedback contained useful signposting to other funding sources

“Based on the number of applications submitted we know you can't fund everyone. The list of other sources to investigate was a really nice addition though, and much appreciated.”

We understood the feedback and it allowed us to move forward

“The officer whom I spoke with was most helpful. Clearly we didn't fit the EFF criteria and have no problem with that.”

“This is more feedback than we usually get and was clear how it did not fit the Foundation's objectives whilst also indicating that other funders may be interested.”

“We had a clear understanding why there wasn't quite a fit with the current funding.”

Yes and it was useful

“I had a very long conversation with the Fund Manager and they were very open about the competition and high demand. They were encouraging about our work and suggested we reapply in a few months. They also suggested other funders to pursue.”

“I felt able to move forward following feedback.”

“Very specific and clear, enabled us to make notes internally that would ensure we don't make a repeat request until the objectives of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation change.”

Comparison to other funders - Unsuccessful applicants

Question asked:

"When you think about your experience of applying for and NOT getting funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, how would you say they compare with other grant-makers?"

The speed of decision

The ease and duration of the application process has improved significantly for unsuccessful applicants since 2021

Question asked:

"When you think about your experience of applying for and NOT getting funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, how would you say they compare with other grant-makers?" Much better + Better Trend Source: Esmée

Approachability of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation overall Understanding us as an applicant Restrictiveness of funding programmes

Unsuccessful applicants rate the process positively against the benchmark, but less well on relational metrics (Benchmark)

Question asked:

"When you think about your experience of applying for and NOT getting getting funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, how would you say they compare with other grant-makers?"

Much better + Better

Benchmark

Values and who you could learn from

Fundees know Esmée's values, while unsuccessful applicants are more likely to see Esmée as collaborative compared to 2021 Fundees

Question asked:

"To what extent do you associate the following values with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation?" Strongly associate + Somewhat associate Trend

Has integrity - acts with honesty, transparency and accountability

Unsuccessful applicants

Has integrity - acts with honesty, transparency and accountability

Is kind - shows empathy and consideration in how they treat people

Works together - shows respect, empathy and humility in collaborating with others

Is ambitious - uses the opportunity of their endowment to be bold, proactive, and take risks

Is equitable - strives for fair opportunities and outcomes for the people they work with

Is kind - shows empathy and consideration in how they treat people

Works together - shows respect, empathy and humility in collaborating with others

Is ambitious - uses the opportunity of their endowment to be bold, proactive, and take risks

Is equitable - strives for fair opportunities and outcomes for the people they work with

Two-thirds of fundees and half of unsuccessful applicants are aware of Esmée's actions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Question asked:

"Are you aware of the actions Esmée Fairbairn Foundation are taking on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)?"

Do you have any comments on Esmée’s work on DEI? (E.g., what they're doing well, or what could be improved)

Common themes

• This work is inspiring, encouraging and timely – keep it up

• Esmée is leading the way on DEI – great to see it is a priority for the Foundation

• Would like to hear more about it – more frequent updates on actions being taken

• Keen to see more sharing / dissection of the data Esmée collects

• Difficult to capture intersectionality and diversity of experience within the current criteria

• Particularly relevant to those in the environment sector

• Think about ways you could better support those with lived experience during the application process

“It has been a key catalyst for our own work in this space, it is inspiring and encouraging.” Fundee

“They are ahead in their thinking. Lots of orgs playing catch up and ticking boxes.” Fundee

“DEI feels engrained in Esmée's work and funding streams, rather than an add on.” Fundee

“Very comprehensive and interesting, especially the DEI assessment of grantmaking. Although your web page on progress to date could do with an update.” Unsuccessful applicant

“I think this is an agenda important to the whole sector and it is important for the Foundation to show leadership. It would be good for them to find a way for organisations to put in their own words how DEI is central to their own work so that it is authentic and relevant and that all aspects of inclusion are considered.” Unsuccessful applicant

“Simplified their application system over the years.”

“Communication, grant officer at hand during application and after.”

“The ease of the application and the scope of projects they

“Learning networks and funded training opportunities.”

“Very approachable and good at interpersonal communications.”

“You can discuss your proposal before you submit a stage 1 application.”

“Excellent, very clear guidance.”

“They are welcoming and accommodating.”

“They always have time to talk.”