Grant-making trust or foundation · Registered charity 1156077
Wolfson Foundation: grants and who they fund
Wolfson Foundation published 506 grants to organisations from 6 Dec 2023 to 10 Jun 2026, worth £109m in total. The typical (median) grant was £90k.
Stated aims
What the charity says it does (Charity Commission register):
The objectives of the Wolfson Foundation are grant-giving. On 4 April 2014, the operational activities and net assets of the Wolfson Foundation (a charitable trust, registered number 206495) passed to the Wolfson Foundation, charity number 1156077 (a charitable company). The accounts for the years ending 5 April 2014 and earlier can be viewed on the charity's website at www.wolfson.org.uk.
Charitable objects (governing document):
The charity is established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit, worldwide, including in particular (but not limited to):(a) the advancement, promotion and support of science and medicine, education, the arts and humanities, health and such religions as are recognised as charitable under the law of England and Wales; particularly but not exclusively by:(i) the promotion of excellence in all relevant disciplines;(ii) undertaking and/or facilitating relevant research and disseminating the useful results of that research for the public benefit; …
Where it operates (Charity Commission register):
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
Grant sizes
Grants to organisations from 6 Dec 2023 to 10 Jun 2026. Smallest £5,000, largest £2m, average £215k.
| Grant size | Grants | Share |
|---|---|---|
| £5,000 to £9,999 | 1 | 0% |
| £10,000 to £49,999 | 92 | 18% |
| £50,000 to £99,999 | 178 | 35% |
| £100,000 to £249,999 | 119 | 24% |
| £250,000 or more | 116 | 23% |
| Year | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 64 | £19.9m |
| 2025 | 186 | £35.9m |
| 2024 | 180 | £37.6m |
| 2023 | 76 | £15.2m |
Grant programmes
Programmes named most often in the published grants.
| Programme | Grants | Median grant |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Disability | 183 | £70k |
| Education | 180 | £90k |
| Arts and Humanities | 103 | £150k |
| Science and Medicine | 40 | £775k |
Example recipients
Registered organisations that received grants, largest first. Organisations only: grants to individuals are never shown.
| Organisation | Grants | Total | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nottingham | 4 | £3m | 10 Jun 2026 |
| University of St Andrews | 1 | £2m | 6 Dec 2023 |
| University of Edinburgh | 1 | £2m | 5 Dec 2024 |
| DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund | 1 | £2m | 5 Dec 2024 |
| University of Oxford | 4 | £1.8m | 10 Jun 2026 |
| Art Fund | 1 | £1.8m | 3 Dec 2025 |
| Tate | 2 | £1.8m | 5 Jun 2025 |
| University of York | 4 | £1.7m | 10 Jun 2026 |
| University of Exeter | 4 | £1.7m | 10 Jun 2026 |
| John Innes Centre | 1 | £1.6m | 10 Jun 2026 |
| University of Sheffield | 1 | £1.5m | 6 Jun 2024 |
| King's College London | 1 | £1.5m | 5 Dec 2024 |
| The Natural History Museum | 1 | £1.5m | 3 Dec 2025 |
| University of Warwick | 1 | £1.5m | 10 Jun 2026 |
| National Trust | 1 | £1.5m | 10 Jun 2026 |
Looking for funding beyond trusts and foundations?
Grant Radar (£29 a month) emails you open UK government grants from Find a Grant each week, matched to each client by location, organisation type and sector, with closing dates. It covers government schemes, not trust and foundation grants like Wolfson Foundation's.
14-day free trial. Cancel before day 14 and you pay nothing.
Similar funders
Source: grants data published by Wolfson Foundation through 360Giving (GrantNav data, fetched 23 Oct 2026), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Figures are our own summary of that data: 506 grants to organisations awarded 6 Dec 2023 to 10 Jun 2026 (from the most recent records published). Stated aims, charity number and areas of operation are from the Charity Commission register.
Licence: Contains public sector information from the Charity Commission for England and Wales, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open Government Licence v3.0. Grants data from Wolfson Foundation, CC BY 4.0.
Last updated: 23 October 2026. Information only, not funding advice; check the funder's own guidance before applying. Brightbench is not connected to Wolfson Foundation.