Arcadia Fund
Overview
Arcadia, (formerly the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund), is a grant-making fund established in 2001. Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin form the donor board. Since 2007, their funds have been administered by Charities Aid Foundation.
From 2009 onwards, Arcadia's key mission is to protect endangered treasures of culture and nature. This includes near extinct languages, rare historical archives and museum quality artefacts, and the protection of ecosystems and environments threatened with extinction. Although no longer part of their remit, they have historically donated to charities working to protect free societies and human rights, to encourage education and to promote philanthropy.
The two areas they fund are as follows :
- Environmental Conservation
Arcadia’s grants in the Environmental Conservation field have been on programmes that protect and enhance biodiversity, and provide field training and academic research. - Cultural Knowledge
Arcadia works to preserve near extinct languages, rare historical archives and museum quality artefacts.
Full details of our grants are given under the Current and Past Grants pages on their website.
The name Arcadia carries many associations, including a utopian view of the natural world and of the aspirations of human societies. To its founders it also embodies Arcadia's ideal: the desire to preserve, but also acknowledge the transience of, the world’s most beautiful and fragile treasures of nature and culture.
The Donor Board identifies grantees according to its scholarly and practical interests and informed, expert advice. They regret that we are unable to consider uninvited applications.
As at May 2010 Arcadia had awarded grants totalling $192 million and their fund is administered by Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
How to Apply
Applications can only be accepted on the invitation of Arcadia. It is a waste of time otherwise to make an application