C FTING TOMORROW Strategy 2025 – 2030
THE CHALLENGE
Craft skills are disappearing. We are here to change that.
Creative and technical craft skills are in sharp decline. Funding for arts and vocational education has contracted significantly, and centuries of accumulated knowledge and technique risk being lost with no one in place to inherit them. Talent is everywhere but pathways into the craft and creative industries are narrowing, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds.
The Goldsmiths’ Foundation exists to reverse this. Relaunched in 2025 with a focused purpose and new Trustee Board, we are the grant-making arm of the Goldsmiths’ Company, one of the City of London’s Great Twelve Livery Companies, with 700 years of commitment to craft.
OUR VISION
A thriving creative ecosystem fuelled by skills, where traditional craft, manufacturing excellence and technical innovation create exceptional opportunities for the next generation of makers.
Our mission is to equip people with exceptional craft and manufacturing skills in silversmithing, jewellery, and across the wider creative industries. We fund, connect, and champion the organisations delivering this vital work.
THE WAY WE WORK
IN PARTNERSHIP
THE WAY WE WORK IN PARTNERSHIP
We build relationships and leverage connections across the sector from the earliest stage. Alongside funding, partners gain access to our networks, expertise and advocacy.
We build relationships and leverage connections across the sector from the earliest stage. Alongside funding, partners gain access to our networks, expertise and advocacy.
IMPACT-LED
IMPACT-LED
We define the change we want to create, then design our grant-making to achieve it, using evidence and learning to measure progress.
We define the change we want to create, then design our grant-making to achieve it, using evidence and learning to measure progress.
TRUSTING
TRUSTING
We keep requirements proportionate to grant size, trust our grantees’ expertise, and take responsibility for our own contribution to change.
We keep requirements proportionate to grant size, trust our grantees’ expertise, and take responsibility for our own contribution to change.
GET INVOLVED
OPEN
OPEN
Whether you are a charity seeking funding, a maker, an educator, or an industry partner, we want to hear from you.
We publish our funding data, are clear about how we make decisions, and share what we learn along the way.
We publish our funding data, are clear about how we make decisions, and share what we learn along the way.
Together we can ensure that craft and manufacturing skills thrive for another 700 years.
FINANCIALLY REALISTIC
FINANCIALLY REALISTIC
Goldsmiths' Company | Goldsmiths' Hall, London EC2V 6BN thegoldsmiths.co.uk | Charity No. 1175593
We balance ambitious grant-making with long-term sustainability — ensuring every commitment is properly resourced.
We balance ambitious grant-making with long-term sustainability — ensuring every commitment is properly resourced.
WHAT WE DO
WHAT WE DO
THE WAY WE WORK
GRANT-MAKING
GRANT-MAKING
IN PARTNERSHIP
Six complementary schemes, from Open Grants to Landmark Grants of £500,000+, designed to create maximum impact at every scale.
Six complementary schemes, from Open Grants to Landmark Grants of £500,000+, designed to create maximum impact at every scale.
We build relationships and leverage connections across the sector from the earliest stage. Alongside funding, partners gain access to our networks, expertise and advocacy.
CONVENING
RESEARCH & EVIDENCE
CONVENING RESEARCH & EVIDENCE
IMPACT-LED
We bring partners together through an annual Partners’ Day and Summer Reception, building lasting connections and shared learning across the sector.
We bring partners together through an annual Partners’ Day and Summer Reception, building lasting connections and shared learning across the sector.
We define the change we want to create, then design our grant-making to achieve it, using evidence and learning to measure progress.
TRUSTING
We commission and share research to build an evidence base for the whole sector. Through independent evaluation and our annual Impact Report, we learn, adapt, and demonstrate accountability.
We commission and share research to build an evidence base for the whole sector. Through independent evaluation and our annual Impact Report, we learn, adapt, and demonstrate accountability.
We keep requirements proportionate to grant size, trust our grantees’ expertise, and take responsibility for our own contribution to change.
OPEN
C FTING TOMORROW Strategy 2025 – 2030
We publish our funding data, are clear about how we make decisions, and share what we learn along the way.
FINANCIALLY REALISTIC
We balance ambitious grant-making with long-term sustainability — ensuring every commitment is properly resourced.
THE IMPACT WE SEEK
Success, for us, is measured through people achieving their full potential and contributing to a thriving craft economy — seen in makers empowered, careers launched, and skills preserved for future generations. By 2030, we will have contributed to:
PEOPLE
More individuals accessing craft training and building meaningful careers in manufacturing and the creative industries.
PRACTICE
Skills secured, craft sustained, and renewed respect for the dignity of skilled work.
PLACES
Communities shaped by craft, craft shaped by community, across the UK.
Our success will ultimately be measured not in the grants we award but in the makers we empower, the pathways we create, and the vibrant, inclusive craft and manufacturing ecosystem we help to build for generations to come.
GET INVOLVED
Whether you are a charity seeking funding, a maker, an educator, or an industry partner, we want to hear from you.
Together we can ensure that craft and manufacturing skills thrive for another 700 years. Goldsmiths' Company | Goldsmiths' Hall, London EC2V 6BN thegoldsmiths.co.uk | Charity No. 1175593