What Education Endowment Foundation does

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent UK-registered charity and company limited by guarantee, founded in 2011 and headquartered in London, dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational attainment in England. It operates a web-based platform that delivers free, evidence-based resources - notably the Teaching and Learning Toolkit (synthesising 2,950 robust studies), a suite of Guidance Reports (covering SEND, implementation, literacy, mathematics, feedback, assessment, behaviour, and inclusive teaching), the Early Years Toolkit and Early Years Evidence Store, and the Promising Programmes database - to state-funded schools, early years settings, and 16-19 colleges.

EEF's central mechanism is commissioning and independently evaluating educational interventions, typically via randomised controlled trials, then disseminating findings through self-serve website access, Research Schools, Regional Partnerships, the Evidence Partnership for 16-19 colleges, and the EEF Exchange practitioner community. Scale signals include 1.1 million resource downloads in 2024-25, 4 in 5 state-funded schools having taken part in an EEF project, and 60,000+ newsletter subscribers. The organisation explicitly does not sell services; rather, it is grant-funded (charitable grants and donations) and restricted to operating within England, where it addresses a Pupil Premium market of £3 billion annually serving 2.2 million disadvantaged pupils against a 19.2-month end-of-secondary attainment gap.

Name

Education Endowment Foundation

Legal name

Education Endowment Foundation

Website

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent UK charity, established in 2011, that funds RCT-evaluated education programmes and provides free evidence-based resources, toolkits, and guidance reports to state-funded schools, colleges, and early years settings across England to narrow the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Research and Evaluation Services

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Education Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Title I & Compensatory Education Programs (EDAJAGAJ), Scholarships, Grants & Education Benefits Administration (Financing-adjacent) (FSAKAEAM), Endowments (Universities, Foundations, Nonprofits) (FSAAAGAC)

Keywords

• Education research charity
• Evidence-based teaching
• Educational programme evaluation
• Teacher professional development
• Disadvantaged pupil support

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Charitable Grants and Donations: EEF is an independent charity that receives funding to support its mission of improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in England

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity that funds, develops, and disseminates evidence-based educational programmes and resources to schools, colleges, and early years settings across England. Its core offerings include the Teaching and Learning Toolkit summarising thousands of robust studies, themed guidance reports, the Early Years Toolkit and Evidence Store, the Promising Programmes database, the Pupil Premium Guide, structured practitioner networks (Research Schools, Regional Partnerships, 16-19 Evidence Partnership), and funded participation in RCT-evaluated projects.

Product overview

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) offers a platform of evidence-based educational resources and tools rather than a single product. The core offerings include the Teaching and Learning Toolkit (an accessible summary of international education evidence), various Guidance Reports (including guides on SEND, Implementation, Literacy, Mathematics, Behaviour, and Inclusive Teaching), the Early Years Toolkit and Early Years Evidence Store for early childhood educators, the Promising Programmes resource highlighting evaluated programmes with positive impact, and the EEF Guide to the Pupil Premium. These resources are complemented by Networks (Regional partnerships, Research Schools Network, Evidence Partnership for 16-19) and Project Participation opportunities that allow schools and settings to join EEF-funded research trials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Teaching and Learning Toolkit: An accessible summary of education evidence about teaching and learning approaches
• Early Years Toolkit
• EEF Exchange
• Research Schools Network
• The Evidence Partnership
• Early Years Evidence Store

Products and services

• Teaching and Learning Toolkit
• Guide to Inclusive Teaching Guidance report providing advice on supporting every child to participate and succeed in school, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, accompanied by scenario-based training resources.
• Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools Guidance Report Guidance designed to help schools support pupils with SEND in mainstream schools, with five recommendations drawn from the evidence base.
• A School's Guide to Implementation Guidance on effective implementation to help educators select and embed evidence-informed approaches, focusing on behaviours, contextual factors, and a structured process.
• EEF Guidance Reports A collection of guidance reports summarising the best available research evidence on various aspects of teaching and learning, with actionable recommendations covering leadership, science, literacy, assessment, feedback, mathematics, learning behaviours, and life skills.
• Promising Programmes A curated list of programmes demonstrating meaningful, cost-effective improvements in outcomes through independent evaluation, particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged pupils; highlights only around 10% of programmes with completed EEF trials.
• Early Years Evidence Store A resource providing evidence-informed approaches educators can use in early years settings, including summaries of effective approaches, videos showing practices in action, and implementation recommendations.
• Early Years Toolkit A summary of the best available evidence for early years learning and development, with information summarised by cost, impact, and evidence strength.
• EEF Guide to the Pupil Premium A five-step guide supporting schools to plan, monitor, and implement an effective Pupil Premium strategy.
• EEF Project Participation A platform connecting schools, colleges, and early years settings with EEF-funded research projects and evaluations of high-potential programmes, including innovation, pilot, efficacy, effectiveness, and scale-up projects.

Quantifiable outcome

• Four-fifths of all state-funded schools in England have taken part in an EEF project
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Research Schools NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA network of schools across England that champion evidence use in their regions. Research Schools provide training, support, and leadership to help other schools implement evidence-based practices effectively.
• Regional PartnershipscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilding local support and training networks across different regions of England to help schools access and implement evidence-based approaches.
• Evidence for Education NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting a global evidence partnership to share best practices and research findings across international education systems.
• School Funders NetworkminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCollaborating with other organizations that fund school-based initiatives to address educational disadvantage collectively.
• The Evidence Partnership (16-19)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA collaborative initiative with further education and sixth form colleges to help them access, understand, and apply research evidence to teaching and learning, with focus on socio-economically disadvantaged learners.
• ScenarioSpaceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner providing scenario-based training resources to accompany the EEF Guide to Inclusive Teaching, helping educators practice inclusive teaching approaches through realistic scenarios.
• External Delivery TeamscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOrganizations (usually charities, research institutes, or universities) that design and deliver educational programmes funded by EEF to participating schools and colleges.
• Independent EvaluatorscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerExternal research organizations that conduct independent evaluations of EEF-funded projects, typically using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to measure impact on pupil outcomes.
• Evidence Guardianship NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupporting other organizations to promote evidence use across the education system, extending the reach of evidence-based practices.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: US-based education foundation focused on teaching quality and networked improvement communities. Operates at substantially larger international scale but shares the foundation-plus-evidence-plus-network model that defines EEF.
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation: Major UK grantmaking foundation providing funding across education, the arts, and social justice. Operates as a multi-cause charity funder at much larger scale than EEF with overlapping educational grantmaking priorities.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (US Education): Largest education-focused philanthropic grantmaker globally, with substantial RCT-based intervention research portfolio. Direct functional overlap on evidence-based education programmes and disadvantaged-learner focus but vastly greater scale and global reach.
• What Works Clearinghouse (US IES): US federally-funded evidence clearinghouse producing systematic reviews of education research effectiveness for educators and policymakers. Closest functional equivalent globally for synthesizing and disseminating education research, but operating at much larger scope and US federal scale.

Direct peers

• Sutton Trust: UK charitable foundation focused on improving social mobility through education research and advocacy. Closest UK peer given shared founder (Sir Peter Lampl), education-disadvantage focus, and evidence-based research remit.
• National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER): UK's largest independent education research organisation conducting independent studies and evaluation in schools and policy. Directly comparable on evidence generation and educational evaluation function, though broader in research remit.
• Impetus: UK charity supporting disadvantaged young people via evidence-based programmes including RCT evaluations of charity-led interventions. Comparable on UK charity status, disadvantaged-youth mission, and commitment to rigorous impact evaluation.
• What Works Network (UK Government): UK government-led network of independent What Works Centres synthesizing evidence across policy domains. Direct counterpart on the evidence-to-practice bridge in the UK, with EEF itself recognised as the education node within this network.

Others

• Joseph Rowntree Foundation: UK foundation focused on poverty reduction with education as one of several impact areas. Larger UK poverty-research footprint; adjacent rather than directly competitive to EEF but intersecting on disadvantage and education.
• Teach First: UK education charity placing graduates as teachers in disadvantaged schools. Different operating model (direct service delivery via teacher training) but complementary UK education-disadvantage mandate and registered charity status.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/educendowfoundn
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5-jDNhzw1ySqP42gCv23IQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/EducEndowFoundn/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/education-endowment-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/eef_evidence

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Education Endowment Foundation