Chiswick House & Gardens Smashes Fundraising Target
Over £200,000 raised for new community spaces
Learning Hub with the Clore Learning Space will host school and community programmes. Picture: Chiswick House and Gardens Trust
April 23, 2026
Chiswick House & Gardens has exceeded its fundraising target for three new community spaces opening later this year, after local supporters helped raise more than £201,000 in a month-long crowdfunding campaign.
The appeal, which ran until 23 April, set out to raise £165,000 to complete the final elements of the new facilities, including raised beds, planters, awnings, indoor and outdoor furniture, kitchen equipment and storage. By the time the campaign closed, supporters had donated £190,000 through the Crowdfunder platform, with a further £10,000 given directly to the Trust.
Donations ranged from £5 to a single gift of £25,000, with the vast majority coming from people living in West London. Supporters were offered a range of rewards, from pin badges and postcards to tea and cake with the bees in the Kitchen Garden. The most popular reward was a tote bag featuring an exclusive illustration of Chiswick House & Gardens by typewriter artist Keira Rathbone. Around 10% of donors chose to have their name engraved on a brick, block or bench in one of the new spaces.
The three new areas — all due to open later this year — are designed to expand the site’s learning, community and volunteering capacity. They include the Learning Hub with the Clore Learning Space, a net-carbon-zero building that will host year-round school and community programmes; the Foyle Learning Yard, a new outdoor space at the working heart of the estate; and the Kitchen Garden Hub, which will support more people to take part in gardening and food-growing activities.
Xanthe Arvanitakis, Director of Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, said the response from the community had been “immensely encouraging”. “Watching the appeal total growing over the past few weeks has been so exciting,” she said. “The Trust is immensely grateful to everyone that has helped us reach such an impressive final total. You really have made all the difference, helping us complete this ambitious project which will benefit the local community for years to come.”
The overall development cost of £5.5 million has been supported by a wide range of funders, including Hounslow Council, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Linbury Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation, Kusuma Trust, Foyle Foundation, Clore Duffield Foundation, the Mayor of London, The Headley Trust, The Swire Charitable Trust, Bernard Sunley Foundation, The Architectural Heritage Fund, the Sandra Charitable Trust and many individual donors.
Construction is due to be completed this summer, with an official opening planned for September. The Trust will begin contacting donors about collecting their rewards from Wednesday 28 April.
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