Our values reflect how we work.
We are a responsive funder, listening and responding to what applicants and our wider stakeholder network judge is important.
We have well developed and regularly reviewed funding guidelines, enabling us to be discerning in our decisions about whom and what to support.
We value all our stakeholder relationships, including organisations we fund and those applying to us, and seek to have a personal touch. Our Trustees are involved at every stage of an application, and we always meet an applicant before a grant is made.
We prefer to be connected and are in regular contact with relevant colleagues and partners in the charitable and investing worlds. We also like to keep in touch with organisations we fund, convening and linking with them and others from time to time.
We are willing to be flexible and may venture outside our funding criteria or our usual ways of working, if we believe a different approach would be more effective.
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.
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John Ellerman Foundation was set up by John Reeves Ellerman, 2nd Baronet (Bt.) in 1971
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We aim to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world by focusing on the arts, environment and social action. We believe these areas, both separately and together, can make an important contribution to wellbeing.
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As a grantmaker we achieve our impact through funding others. Here are some examples of the grants we make, and why.
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