Formerly the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund, Arcadia is a grant-making fund established in 2001. Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin form the Donor Board. As at May 2010 Arcadia had awarded grants totalling $192 million. Our fund is administered by Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).

From 2009 onwards, Arcadia's key mission is to protect endangered culture and nature. This includes near extinct languages, rare historical archives and museum quality artefacts, and the protection of ecosystems and environments threatened with extinction. Although no longer part of our remit, we have historically donated to charities working to protect free societies and human rights, to encourage education and to promote philanthropy. Full details of our grants are given under the Current and Past Grants pages.

The name Arcadia carries many associations, including a utopian view of the natural world and of the aspirations of human societies. To its founders it also embodies Arcadia's ideal: the desire to preserve, but also acknowledge the transience of, the world’s most beautiful and fragile treasures of nature and culture.

The Donor Board identifies grantees according to its scholarly and practical interests and informed, expert advice. We regret that we are unable to consider uninvited applications.