Our story

The Ragdoll Foundation supports the creation, appreciation, and awareness of imaginative and innovative work that reflects the world from a child’s or young person’s point of view.

Our aims are to:

• Promote equality of opportunity for children and young people to access innovative, high-quality arts engagement, and for young people to enter the arts and creative industries.
• Provide a space for alternative thinking, voices, and practices, encouraging self-confidence, innovation, risk taking and the sharing of ideas.
• Seek new creative solutions by combining perspectives, cultures, and disciplines to promote new approaches to creativity and innovation.
• Establish partnerships, collaborate, and share knowledge by creating connections and being responsive to supporting co-operative ventures across sectors.

The Ragdoll Foundation was established in 1999 by Anne and Barrie Wood supported by Ragdoll Productions which granted us 15% of the company shares. When Ragdoll Productions sold its back catalogue in 2013 to DHX media (now WildBrain Ltd.), approximately £2.5m was released to support Foundation initiatives.

Between 2013 and 2023 we used our resources and funding to support three programme strands:

• Open Grants – Supporting organisations working with children and young people through the arts and creative media
• Legacy – Supporting projects that continue the work and vision of our founder, Anne Wood
• Advocacy – Initiatives that support the voice and rights of children and young people

In 2023 the Ragdoll Foundation trustees committed our remaining resources to support two final initiatives: Legacy Grants and The Ragdoll Foundation Scholarship and Employability Programme at the University of Sheffield.

The Ragdoll Foundation will not be having any further grant programmes. We thank everyone who has participated in or followed our work over the past years. We are pleased to leave a legacy of positive organisational and individual impact, the new scholarship programme at the University of Sheffield, and the project finder good practice database on this website.