Foundling Museum launches public fundraising appeal to secure future

London’s Foundling Museum has launched the public phase of its campaign to raise £4.6m and remain open to the public and keep its collection intact.

The museum’s 25-year custodianship of the former Foundling Hospital building in Brunswick Square and historic collection ends in 2027. It must raise the money by this September to take forward an agreement with the children’s charity Coram, which continues the hospital’s work today, that will secure its home and custodianship of the collection for 999 years.

Coram owns the building and the money raised will support its work with young people.

The Foundling has already raised £3.6m from more than 20 supporters including the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Foyle Foundation, Ethos Foundation and Pilgrim Trust. Members of the public are being asked via the museum’s website to donate to the final phase so it can continue its work with care-experienced young people, early years children and families, and in the arena of adult mental health.

“We have a wonderful once-only chance to secure the Foundling Museum’s long-term future,” said Larissa Joy, chair of the Foundling Museum. “The appeal is urgent and critical.”

The Foundling Hospital was founded in 1739 as a home for children whose mothers couldn’t keep or care for them. Support from artists and musicians such as George Frideric Handel helped raise money and made it the UK’s first public art gallery.

Its collection includes masterpieces donated by the leading artists of the 18th century, including Willian Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. The museum also contains many original features from the 18^th-century Foundling Hospital, including the boys’ staircase and the governors’ Rococo Court Room.