Arcadia

Arcadia is a UK-based family philanthropic fund established in 2002 by Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, dedicated to preserving endangered cultural heritage, conserving nature, and promoting open access to knowledge for the public good. Guided by a donor board, expert advisors, and a small London team, it channels resources through family trusts with a strategic, evidence-driven approach, emphasizing the irreversible loss of cultural diversity, habitats, and knowledge. Operating globally without geographic restrictions, Arcadia forms long-term partnerships to drive systemic change via substantive, multi-year grants.

It prioritizes three themes: cultural heritage projects digitizing threatened languages, archives, and collections (e.g., British Museum initiatives); nature conservation strengthening indigenous-led habitat protection and policy (e.g., Forest Peoples Programme); and open access resources like digital libraries and biodiversity data platforms (e.g., Global Biodiversity Information Facility). Funding supports universities, museums, scholarly bodies, and major NGOs delivering scalable, impactful work, including core costs, capacity building, and research, with all outputs required to be freely available online.

Eligible entities are typically medium-to-large organizations with proven capacity for large-scale projects; small grassroots groups may access via partner programmes, with no formal income thresholds but a preference for established institutions. Arcadia does not accept unsolicited applications or operate public rounds/deadlines—instead, it identifies grantees through networks, while partners issue theme-specific calls.

Typical grants range from £250,000 to several million over multi-years, focusing on transformative, core support rather than emergency/seed funding or short-term interventions. Distinctives include rights-based environmental solutions, aversion to fragmented giving, and mandatory open access, differentiating it as a collaborative force for global preservation.