Poor Fund of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers

The Fund supports projects that relieve poverty, improve health, and advance education, with a focus on London's deprived communities including areas like Tower Hamlets. Examples include grants for homeless and rough sleepers, school breakfast clubs, youth mental health programmes, and bursaries for engineering students. It also provides institutional support for fan-related innovation, reflecting its heritage in both traditional fan making and modern fan technologies. The Fund typically works with small local charities or London-based projects of larger organisations, funding targeted initiatives that align with its relational, multi-year approach.

Eligible organisations are UK-registered charities, academic institutions, and community groups based strictly in London. The Fund shows a clear preference for small, grassroots groups serving needy residents in the capital. Priority beneficiaries include children, young people, the elderly, and disabled people. There is no religious restriction on applicants. The Fund looks for organisations with strong local roots and a focus on the most disadvantaged, without specifying income thresholds.

The Fund does not support capital or emergency grants, as these fall outside its relational model of funding. It avoids one-off interventions that lack the sustained, collaborative engagement it seeks with grantees. The Fund also does not accept unsolicited applications, working instead through invitation and trustee discretion.

The Fund provides multi-year grants, often covering both project costs and core costs, as well as bursaries for education. It works by invitation, not accepting unsolicited applications, and builds long-term, relational partnerships with grantees. Funding is collaborative, with an emphasis on deep engagement and sustained impact rather than transactional support.