Grants up to £25,000 are available for UK environmental organisations working in the UK and/or overseas to react to unforeseen crises with a potentially significant environmental impact.
The objectives of the Environmental Funders Network are the promotion of the effective use of resources in the Environmental sector, particularly in the areas conservation, and the protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment by:
• Liaising with, researching and acting as a forum for the exchange of information between organisations working in the Environmental Sector, in order to identify how the sector might better achieve charitable purposes in conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment, including but not limited to identifying funding gaps and gaps in service provision in the sector.
• Providing advice and information to existing and potential funders of charities and non-charitable bodies working in the Environmental Sector to encourage them to increase their funding and to provide funding in a way which increases the effective application of funding for charitable purposes by the Environmental Sector, and
• Providing charities working in the Environmental Sector with strategic and fundraising advice; and o Such other means as the charity trustees shall from time to time think fit.
The Network provides a Rapid Response Fund to support groups who are trying to take advantage of unexpected opportunities or react to unforeseen crises with a potentially significant environmental outcome. This includes supporting organisations who need immediate help in response to situations that are not possible to predict or anticipate.
Grants of up to £25,000 are available to UK environmental groups, with an average grant award of around £10,000. Preference is given to organisations working in areas that traditionally find it difficult to attract funding, such as consumption and waste, toxicity, fresh water, pollution and transport.
Applying organisations must be based in the UK, although funded activities can take place in any part of the world.
Examples of the types of activity that can be funded include (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
• Legal fees (for example, funding was awarded to the Scottish Wildlife Trust to hire a Queen’s Counsel who then helped the charity defeat a proposal for a golf course at Coul Links, a triple-designated site of conservation importance).
• Lobbying for green COVID-19 recovery strategies (for example, a grant was previously awarded to the Climate Coalition to organise the first ever virtual mass lobby of UK Parliament on the importance of a green recovery from COVID-19).
• Organising climate emergency events and
• The creation and support of new green jobs and infrastructure (for example, a grant was previously awarded to Wildlife & Countryside Link and ClientEarth for a ‘National Nature Service’ to support the creation of new green jobs).
Further information, guidance and an application form is available on the Network’s website.