why do we need your support?
Now, more than ever, we need your support to help us care for this wonderful estate, to keep it open for everyone to discover and enjoy, and to run our arts and educational charitable programmes.
We have set out a new financial strategy to finally eliminate the unsustainable annual deficits that the charity has been facing in recent years and to secure the estate’s long-term future. The strategy includes plans to grow our income, cut costs, and sell non-essential assets in order to reduce our financial liabilities and invest in the estate.
While we cannot achieve all our ambitions by fundraising alone, increasing charitable donations is an absolutely vital part of our financial strategy; every pound will help us to secure the estate’s future and all that we do here together.
Donate now to support our work – you can make a general donation or see below for our current campaigns if you’d like to donate to something more specific.
If you would like more information about ways to support please email fundraising@dartington.org or call 01803 847 027.
Are you a US Donor? Click here to find out how you can make a safe online donation to Dartington.
The Dartington Hall Trust is supported by the Chapel & York US Foundation, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations to the Chapel & York US Foundation from US taxpayers are tax deductible to the extent allowed by US law. The Dartington Hall Trust has been reviewed by the Chapel & York US Foundation and the board has determined that The Dartington Hall Trust is a suitable organization to receive grants from a US public charity.
If you are a US taxpayer and want to support The Dartington Hall Trust please click donate to make a safe online donation at https://www.chapel-yorkfoundation.org/donate/.
You will be issued with the receipt you require for income tax purposes.
Donate now
Your donation will be used to support the charitable aims of the Dartington Hall trust; keeping this wonderful historic estate open for everyone to enjoy and allowing us to invest in experimental arts and learning programmes.
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More areas to support

Grounds and Gardens
Help our Gardens team keep this special place beautifully maintained and accessible for all to discover and enjoy, all year round.

Summer School
Donate to the International Summer School & Festival, and help support music students, their teachers and mentors, performers and performances.
Founded in 1925, we are a thriving visitor destination and charity supporting learning in arts, ecology and social justice, set on a beautiful 1,200-acre estate in the South Devon countryside.
Throughout our history we have drawn leading artists and thinkers including Bernard Leach, composer Igor Stravinsky, cellist Jacqueline du Pre, musician Ravi Shankar, playwright Bernard Shaw and environmental activist Vandana Shiva.
Today, we are:
Schumacher College, Dartington Arts School, and Research in Practice
a social-enterprise hub for like-minded organisations and charities
a place for nature with range of conservation, agroforestry and regenerative food-growing projects.
a creative community with a year-round programme of art and craft short courses, theatre, music and dance events as well as a wide selection of films at the independent Barn Cinema.
We are also an award-winning destination with woodland walks, riverside trails, cafés, and restaurants and family-friendly activities.
What we do
Our legacy of progressive education continues to inform our learning programme: from our wide programme of short courses in ecology, arts and crafts, to our transformative higher education programmes.
Our arts and cultural events attract audiences from around the world and encourage social change, learning and experimentation.
Our estate, home to innovations in agriculture and architecture, is a place to build communities and the ecosystem that sustains them.
Respecting the rights of individuals is at the core of the original Dartington Experiment.
Our history: Meet the Elmhirsts
The Dartington Experiment began in 1925, when Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst bought a crumbling estate and began to explore how a place could change the world – attracting some of the greatest artists, educators and political philosophers of the 20th century in the process. Important British institutions – including the NHS and the Arts Council – emerged, and ground-breaking experiments in land use, farming and education took place.
The Elmhirsts understood that the world and its people are complex. There are many sides to every story and to every human being. We need environments that encourage our whole being to flourish, in connection with nature and each other.
Our people and governance

Careers
Work with us

News & blogs
Stories and features

Annual Reports
And financial statements

Our team
Leadership & Trustees