Grants are made only to charitable institutions. The donor board concentrates on a few themes. These are identified on the basis of its members' own scholarly and practical interests and experience, and informed expert advice from the policy advisers and advisory board. The donor board is solely responsible for the choice of programmes or fields to be supported, and we do not consider uninvited applications.

The general criteria for a grant decision include its scholarly and/or practical importance; the expertise of those receiving the grant; and the urgency of the relevant issue. All grants are subject to detailed terms and conditions. Regular reports are requested, and careful financial administration enforced.

Arcadia's mission is to protect cultural knowledge and materials, such as near extinct languages, rare historical archives, and museum quality artefacts. These are efforts we feel are vital and yet often neglected. We are also committed to saving natural treasures, and we support ecological conservation through organisations including Fauna & Flora International, Yale University, Cambridge University, Conservacion Patagonia, and The Whitley Fund for Nature.

We have historically funded in several areas that are no longer part of our key mission work. This includes the defence of human rights, as demonstrated by our repeat grants to Human Rights Watch. Other past grant areas include higher academic training and research and the promotion of philanthropy. Full details of these donations are provided on the Past Grants section of this website.