Archives and public access policy

The Foundation holds analogue and digital records encompassing its governance, operations and grant making since 1987.

Our aim in holding this archive is:

• to provide a coherent documentary record of the history of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF);
• to evidence and explain its work and preserve original records to capture the corporate identity of the Foundation;
• to augment the history of philanthropy;
• to provide information for future academic research – the Foundation believes that its grant management records are ​‘of enduring public value’ as defined by GDPR.

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation Archive as defined for the purposes of this policy does not include the following:

• The library of general publications held by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation within its offices;
• Artworks, fixtures and fittings within the Paul Hamlyn offices;
• The personal archive of Paul Hamlyn or other members of the Hamlyn family;
• The business archives of companies owned or managed by Paul Hamlyn.

Grant records – the largest element of the archive is grant-making records, although we do not hold detailed records of all grants awarded. Some records are hard copies, more recent (since 2015) are digital only. The Foundation has awarded c11,000 grants from 1987–2025.

Governance records – records of trustees’ meetings and sub committees, legal documents relating to the Foundation and Annual Reports and Yearbooks.

Administrative records – records relating to the Foundation’s investments, financial management and operations.

The majority of the archive is catalogued in some way, except more recent administrative records.

We recognise that our grant-making records could provide some information of value to academic researchers. We will therefore consider requests to access our grants archive that meet the following criteria:

• The researcher must have accredited academic credentials linked to a recognised university or research institution.
• The request to access the archives should set out the researcher’s area of interest and their research proposal specifying how PHF’s records will be used.
• The researcher will be required to sign up to PHF’s terms of use for the archive which cover areas such as data protection management, preservation of records and our handling policy.

Requests should be made to PHF’s data protection officer at dataprotection@phf.org.uk. Whilst the Foundation wishes to share its grants records where appropriate, it reserves the right to refuse requests.

The Foundation does not share its governance and administrative records publicly.