Public appeal beats Art Fund record

The fastest ever fundraising campaign in the Art Fund’s 111 year history has seen the final £2.74m of the £15.75m ‘Save Wedgwood’ campaign raised through a public appeal – meeting its target within a month of its launch. The first two weeks of the campaign saw £700k contributed by 4,000 members of the public, whose individual donations were matched pound for pound by a private charitable trust. Support from the public continued to grow, together with contributions from major donors, grant-making foundations and regional businesses, plus £100k from Staffordshire County Council. The Heritage Lottery Fund had already pledged £10.9m. In total, nearly 7,500 individuals donated to the campaign with an average donation of £77.82. Over 60% of the public donors were Art Fund members.

The campaign was launched to enable the Art Fund to purchase the Wedgwood Collection, which contains over 80,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts and letters, pattern books and photographs covering the 250-year history of Wedgwood pottery. The Collection will now be gifted to the V&A, which has agreed in principle to safeguard it in perpetuity, but intends to keep it at Barlaston on long-term loan to the Wedgwood Museum. It will become the centrepiece of a major new visitor experience as part of Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton's £34m redevelopment of the former pottery site in Stoke-on-Trent.

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said: “This amazing show of public support… demonstrates nothing less than a national passion for Wedgwood – its history, its quality, its brand, its continuity – bringing about a potent combination of donations big and small, ranging from £10 gifts via text to six-figure cheques. Britain united to save this Collection.”