The Wolfson Foundation is an independent grant-making charity based in central London but funding across the UK. At the heart of what it does is an emphasis on education and research. In its latest funding round, nearly 80 organisations across the UK will receive a share of over £17 million for capital projects.
A map showing the Foundation’s latest funding is available on its website.
The Foundation has recently pledged to spend more than £200m over the next five years and has retained a focus on funding building projects as part of its new strategy.
In its strategic framework, the funder said it had invested £195m over the previous five years and aimed to exceed that amount from 2025-2029.
The Foundation plans to spend about 85% of its funds on “projects that build, strengthen and sustain an organisation’s infrastructure for the longer term”.
It said its grants will be for new build, refurbishment and equipment projects, prioritising projects that help organisations make a “significant, strategic change in their activity”, “allow talent and brilliant work to flourish” and make organisations “more sustainable, both financially and environmentally”.
The remaining 15% will be spent on bursaries, scholarships and fellowships for people working and studying in research and education and will be delivered in partnership with organisations that have relevant expertise and experience in allocating this type of funding.
Writing in a blog, Wolfson Foundation chief executive Paul Ramsbottom said the grant-maker had been told that there remains a “crucial need across the UK for capital infrastructure funding”.
“There are few other similar sources of funding and yet organisations need to keep investing in their physical infrastructure,” he said.
Ramsbottom said the Foundation had planned to spend £150m over the previous five years but exceeded this due to increasing need for funding, commenting “we are continuing to support imaginative, important projects and have the great joy of working with remarkable organisations across the whole of the UK”.
Source: Civil Society News