Since its foundation in 1903 the Fund has been involved in the acquisition of over 860,000 works of art of every kind, including many of the most famous objects in British public collections, such as Velázquez's Rokeby Venus in the National Gallery, Picasso's Weeping Woman in the Tate collection, the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the medieval Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant in the British Museum.

The founders, who included MacColl, Christiana Herringham, Roger Fry and Robin Benson,[5] were prompted by what they saw as the inadequacy of government funding of museums.

"[6] In 2005 the Fund was caught up in the controversy surrounding the purchase by the Tate gallery of The Upper Room by Chris Ofili.

Also in 2006, the Fund was caught out when it was discovered that the Amarna Princess, purportedly an ancient Egyptian sculpture, was actually a forgery by Shaun Greenhalgh.

In 2010 The Procession to Calvary by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, which had been hung in Wakefield's Nostell Priory for over 200 years, came under risk of being sold on the open market.

[9] The following year the campaign was expanded to 30,000 billboards displaying 25 artworks including the Study of Cirrus Clouds by John Constable, The Circle of Lustful by William Blake and A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling by Hans Holbein the Younger.