A Forest of Funders by Dr Cath Sleeman, Nesta

This data visualisation consists of handmade paper trees. There are 20 trees, one for each of the 20 largest UK funders. The features of each tree, such as the lengths of its branches and its height, reflect key characteristics of the funder, including the value of grants they have awarded and the themes that they have funded. Together the trees show who has funded which themes throughout the years.

The trees are an example of a physical data visualisation, where data values are encoded in the attributes of an object. This form of visualisation can enable data insights to be communicated in a creative and accessible way.