The objective of the Literature Endowment is to promote Estonian literary high culture and popularise literature. For that purpose, the Endowment supports physical and legal persons that are active in Estonia and represent Estonia to:

• create and publish original fiction, literary discussions, documentary literature of artistic value and translation literature;
• events that promote literature and literary culture organised by individuals, associations and authorities;
• popularise literature and organise conferences, lectures, seminars and other events;
• facilitate international literature related communication, participation in international conferences, seminars and book fairs;
• document, record and introduce literature and literary heritage;
• commemorate people involved in literature.

The Literature Endowment awards grants and benefits, gives awards and pays a creative work fee.  The Endowment awards project, creative work, life`s work, medicinal products and other benefits in accordance with its objectives and based on received applications. All benefits are awarded four times a year.

The project benefit is intended to promote, introduce, publish, popularise literature, preserve literary heritage, commemorate individuals that have been involved in literature, and for creative people of the area to enable them to take part in literary events and other activities.
The Endowment supports creative persons of the area with the creator`s salary. The purpose of the publicly-funded creator`s salary is to enable a creative individual to dedicate themselves to a specific creative activity or task aimed at creating a work protected by copyright or related rights, to receive reasonable compensation for this work, and to cover the taxes prescribed by law.2. The creator’s salary can be applied for by natural persons for themselves.

The creative grants are awarded to physical persons so that they can devote to creative work (writing of works, research and translating).

Special grants:

• Gustav Suits grant to literature researchers. Applications must be submitted by 20 November.
• Henno Rajandi grant to translators of fiction. Applications must be submitted by 20 November.

Awards

Every year up to eleven annual awards are given for the best work published during the previous calendar year in the following areas: fiction prose, poetry, dramatic literature, essays, children`s literature, translation of Estonian fiction, translation of fiction into the Estonian language and  translation of philosophical literature into Estonian. In addition, a free award,  Estonian foreign-language literature and article award are given.