Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: Food Fund

Overview

There are three funding priorities relating to Food -

£2.5 million was awarded in 2018, 15 grants in total.

1) Innovation in alternative approaches

They support:

• Inventive projects that can test and demonstrate viable alternative approaches to mainstream corporate food production, retail, and consumption, or
• The development of food production methods that do less harm to the natural environment, and improve the lives of people, local communities and livestock, or
• Work that influences local food buying and selling and promotes the wider uptake of sustainably produced food.

Applicants must:

• Develop new methods which can be replicated, or influence policy and practice more widely.

They want their funding to:

• Increase supply and demand for food that is produced more sustainably.

Case Study: Transition Town Totnes

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2) Food and wellbeing

They support work that:

• Increases people’s understanding of the role of food in their lives, and the impact it can have on personal and community wellbeing, and
• Changes the preferences, attitudes and behaviour of the public towards food, and
• Takes place on a scale that influences and drives how food is produced, transported, marketed and consumed, and can influence significant numbers of people.

Applicants must:

• Work in an engaging, persuasive and participatory way.

They want their funding to:

• Support the sharing of new ways of changing people’s food habits – both radical and incremental.

3) Working towards a more coherent food sector

They support work that:

• Forges closer links between third sector organisations and food producers, distributors and consumers, or
• Links advocates of change in the food system more closely with relevant academics and sources of evidence, or
• Persuades mainstream food businesses, policy makers, and the public to engage with food sustainability and to seek sustainable sources of supply.

Applicants must:

• Have the capacity and skills to engage policy makers at national regional and local level, and
• Have a track record of gathering and presenting persuasive, evidence-based arguments.

They want their funding to:

• Enable organisations from across the spectrum of food interests to work more closely together to address system-wide issues.

Case Study: Food Research Collaboration

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For details of previously funded projects, visit the website here