[5] It funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, and runs influencing work aimed at shaping public policy and raising awareness.

[6] The British Heart Foundation was founded in 1961 by a group of medical professionals who were concerned about the increasing death rate from cardiovascular disease.

The six current centres bring together scientists from a number of disciplines to work on research projects to beat heart and circulatory disease.

[14] It also launched a fund to support the development of clinical research in cardiovascular disease, providing grants from £5,000-20,000, and all topic ideas will be considered.

[21] The Big Beat Challenge was open to applications from any country globally, and accepted proposals in any research area related to cardiovascular disease.

Based on a panel of BHF research-funding committee members and an International Advisory panel, a shortlist was finalised in January 2020 to include a robotic heart, a 'Google map' of atherosclerosis, a project harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and wearables to create a cardiovascular digital twin of a patient, and a genetic cure for inherited heart conditions.

[26][needs update] The BHF runs the largest network of charity shops in the UK, and generates income through online sales too.

[36] In 2016, the BHF was fined by the UK Information Commissioner's Office which ruled that the charity had breached data protection legislation by employing external bodies to analyse the financial status of supporters in order to appeal to them for further donations, a practice known as 'wealth screening'.