John Ellerman Foundation

The Foundation was set up as a generalist grantmaking trust in 1971. We continue with the broad philanthropic interests of our benefactor Sir John Ellerman, while reflecting changing times.

We seek to learn from the grants we make. That means hearing about the outcomes and understanding why some do not go to plan.
 
 
We achieve our aim by:
Funding organisations working in Arts, Environment and Social Action.
Generating funds for grants from our investments.
Our aim is to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world, by focusing on the arts, environment and social action. We believe these areas can make an important contribution to wellbeing.

As a responsive funder we listen to what our applicants think is important rather than pursuing our own agenda.

We support organisations whose work has reach and significance across the UK. In order for our funds to have as wide an impact as possible we look for charities that have a national footprint.

We will support core costs or projects, depending on what is most needed. We are happy for our grants to be used as matched funding.

We wish to be flexible in our funding. We do have funding criteria but there are times when we will venture outside them if we believe it would be more effective.