The Wolfson Foundation

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity that supports and promotes excellence in the fields of science and medicine, health and disability, education and the arts and humanities. Since 1955 it has awarded over £800 million (£1.7 billion in real terms) to some 10,000 projects across the UK, all on the basis of expert peer review. The Wolfson Foundation celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2015.

Education is one of the Wolfson Foundation's central themes and underpins much of our work. Through our open applications we support teaching spaces at universities and secondary schools and, less often, education spaces in cultural organisations, disability charities or those working in the area of public engagement with science.

Most of our open grants in the area of education are channelled through our main programme areas of Science & Medicine, Arts & Humanities and Health & Disability, and so you should look at the relevant pages within these areas for further advice on eligibility and to make an application. Applications are normally routed via these programme areas according to the main activities and aims of your organisation. Applications from secondary schools and sixth form colleges are considered under our Secondary Education Programme (with the exception of special schools). If you are unsure which programme area to apply via, please contact us for advice.

Secondary education

The Secondary Education Programme is primarily dedicated to supporting the teaching of A-Levels and GCSEs at high-achieving state-funded schools and sixth form colleges through the funding of capital projects.

Higher education and other education projects

Much of our funding supports formal education through the provision of capital infrastructure, from lecture theatres and laboratories to libraries and class rooms. We fund universities and specialist educational institutions where the project is supporting areas of demonstrable excellence, whether this be in academic teaching or more practical training, that sit within our areas of interest as noted above.

As well as secondary schools demonstrating excellence (see above), our education funding includes primary and secondary special schools providing for children with disabilities. We occasionally support informal education projects, such as education spaces at museums or within charities working in the area of disability.

Targeted initiatives

We acknowledge that the provision of high quality buildings and equipment is only one part of success in the area of education, and so we also have a number of ongoing targeted initiatives, often in partnership with key organisations in the relevant field, that support individuals through bursaries and scholarships. These range from support for students at secondary level to funding for postgraduate study to support for high achieving academics. Such initiatives are generally proactive, with recipients selected by the Foundation and our partners.

Approaches to the Wolfson Foundation directly from individuals (for help with funding study costs, for example) are not considered.