25 May 2011

CFN is therefore pleased to announce that they will be investing £750,000 into a fellowship of philanthropists – called Time to Give - to run between 2011 and 2014, and which aims to involve over 1,000 people in donor networking, education and joint-funding initiatives.

Fellows will be supported by UK community foundations. These are charities that specialise in supporting projects that engage local people in creating solutions in their neighbourhoods to make communities and regions better places to live.

Matthew Bowcock, CFN’s Chair said:

"We are delighted with the generosity of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and inspired by Ian Fairbairn who did so much to pioneer accessible investment for everyone. In this respect, Time to Give represents for us an opportunity to make best practices in philanthropy and donor networking accessible to a broad range of givers, large and small.  In this sense we hope that ‘Fairbairn Fellows’ will become champions for philanthropy in their areas and encourage others to actively support their local community or wider society. It is exciting evidence of a developing culture of philanthropy in the UK.

Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation said:

“We believe that the Time to Give initiative has the potential to make a significant impact on philanthropy in the UK, encouraging people to become part of a community of givers, supporting their local neighbourhood and playing an active role in the charitable activities they support.

"Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has a very proud history of supporting civil society projects and we are pleased, as part of our 50th birthday projects, to help Community Foundation Network to create stronger community bonds and to inspire a greater culture of philanthropy in Britain today.”

Esmee Fairbairn is pictured on the home page slideshow