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The EQ Foundation is a registered charitable institution that receives funding from EQ Investors and other related parties. Since 2015 it has donated over £600,000 to a number of registered charities.

Transform the way you give

We want to help individual donors make better decisions about their giving. In our experience, most people give money reactively, in response to an ask’ and never really feel comfortable with their decision. So we’ve looked at some of the principles that work when selecting investments to provide a basis for making better selections.

One way to fasttrack the search process is to look at charities that have passed the selection criteria set by top grant makers like the Big Lottery, Comic Relief and Esmee Fairbairn.

We’ve gathered data from the UK Charities Commission covering all registered charities and 360 Giving for details of major donations (usually £10,000 or more) to allow you to see who is being supported and by whom. You can tailor your search based on the number of different donors they have attracted and by their size.

Best thing I’ve ever seen in this field, without a doubt
Andy Cook, chief executive, Centre for Social Justice, founder of Twenty Twenty
Try it now

Download the guide

Finding good charities is really difficult. Our free guide explains some pitfalls and guidelines to get started:

  • Engage your brain, as well as your heart
  • Stop worrying about overheads
  • Look at who else is supporting
  • Early intervention pays dividends
  • Look for Matched Giving opportunities
  • Donations go further in the developing world
  • High profile disaster appeals rarely offer the best value
  • Where’s the evidence about impact?

Who we support

The EQ Foundation makes a small number of multi-year grants to institutions which meet the following criteria:

  • We are particularly interested in programmes in the UK that improve social mobility and encourage early intervention.
  • The programmes must be based on a well considered Theory of Change, be able to demonstrate that they are achieving positive outcomes and that they deliver long lasting benefits.
  • Quality of leadership is paramount and we will also expect a high standard of governance via the board.
  • They should be of a size whereby our grant will have a meaningful impact but will not usually exceed 10% of the annual budget.

A list of current grantees can be found on the EQ Foundation website (external link):

Grantees