Esmee Fairbairn Foundation: Our Natural World

Overview

In October 2020, they launched a new strategy to improve our natural world, strengthen the bonds in UK communities and secure a fairer future. Since the launch of the new strategy, they have agreed almost £23 million in grants, projects and social investments to support the delivery of Our Natural World priorities.

Overview of Our Natural World

They want  to  ensure that our natural world is restored and protected and that people benefit from that recovery. 

Working with others, they will contribute to three key impact goals supporting 5 priorities

The five funding priorities:

• Peat
  • Impact goal - Preserved and improved species health and habitats
  • Long-term outcomes
    • Peat is no longer a component of horticultural products.
    • Degraded peatland sites are restored for nature and for people.
• Space for nature
  • Impact goal - Preserved and improved species health and habitats
  • Long-term outcomes
    • Space for nature, and biodiversity, is restored at scale on land and at sea.
    • More nature rich spaces for people to access and enjoy, particularly those facing barriers to doing so.

They will prioritise proposals that bring together partnerships, including groups of landowners or communities, or where there is a clear mandate and commitment to active involvement from those partners. They will consider support at an early stage where there is evidence of commitment from all parties, and proposals can demonstrate a strong track record in genuine partnership working.

• Freshwater
  • Impact goal - Clean and healthy freshwater
  • Long-term outcomes
    • Freshwater supports a resilient economy and thriving natural environment.
    • Freshwater-dependent wildlife and habitats have been restored.
• Nature friendly farming
  • Impact goal - Sustainable and ethical food
  • Long term outcomes 
    • Soil health is restored.
    • A fairer food system that improves outcomes for nature and communities.
    • Farmers are supported to lead the transition to nature friendly farming at scale.
• Fishing in tandem with nature
  • Impact goal - Sustainable and ethical food
  • Long-term outcomes
    • Fisheries in the UK are well and equitably managed, using low impact methods.
    • Coastal communities benefit from and have an active role in managing marine resources.

Visit here for more information on each priority.

If you decide to submit an expression of interest, they will ask you which priority your work is most aligned to. You’ll also have the option to choose up to two other priorities your work contributes to. In each priority, they have identified a number of long-term outcomes. They want to know how your work contributes to these.

If you are working across more than one area, this will make them more, rather than less likely to support you. They are keen to support organisations working in partnerships, as well as key organisations that work across their priorities to convene, mobilise or generate new ideas.

Financial Support

Grant funding approach

Their grants support organisation's core or project costs, including staff salaries and overheads. They also provide unrestricted funding for charities. They do not fund building or equipment costs, or individuals.

The minimum amount they offer is £30,000 and they have no maximum amount. 

They also do not have minimum or maximum terms for grants – however, the majority of their grants are for three to five years.

They are aiming to make more longer-term grants to organisations that will have a lasting and significant contribution to their impact goals, and fewer short-term or small-scale grants.

• Around two thirds of their active grants are for core costs, or are unrestricted.
• Most of our grants are for three years to five years.

Decisions are made depending on the size of the funding request:

• Grants up to £90k - Executive Team
• Grants up to £250k & social investment up to £500k - Executive/Trustee committee, which meets every 6 weeks
• Grants over £250k and Social Investment over £500k - Trustee Board, which meets 6 times a year

They aim to give you a decision within three months of receiving your proposal. However, there may be a few occasions where larger requests take longer due to the timing of their Board meetings. Decisions are usually faster for smaller grants (£90,000 or less).

Success rates for applications in 2023 (excluding those for follow-on grants and those we have proactively invited)

• 7% of eligible expressions of interest were invited to submit a proposal
• 93% of proposals submitted went on to be awarded a grant

Social investments

Their social investments start with the social or environmental need and tailor the investment to it and offering flexibility. Co-design and learning are integral to their process. As well as making direct investments into organisations seeking to create impact towards their aims, they also invest into impact funds, which are managed by other social investors.

To be eligible for social investment, you must:

• Deliver or plan to deliver measurable outcomes that align closely to the priorities under our aims.
• Be a charity or social enterprise or have a structure that includes a Mission Lock or be willing to add one.
• Demonstrate a suitable repayment or exit plan for the investment you are seeking.
• Be operating in the UK.

They are particularly interested in supporting

• Organisations led by, and for, people with lived experience of the issues they are working on.
• Ideas with the potential to influence wider positive change, help attract mainstream finance into impact or disrupt broken markets. See their Investment priorities for examples.
• Ideas, structures and interventions that meaningfully involve their communities.
• Impact that intersects across one or more of our Aims.
• Partnerships and collaborations.

Decisions are made depending on the size of the funding request:

• Social investment up to £500k - Executive/Trustee committee, which meets every 6 weeks. In some cases, our Executive/Trustee Committee will ask the Board to review a proposal of under £500k if they identify a particular risk or complexity.
• Social investment over £500k - Trustee Board, which meets 6 times a year

The amount of time this process takes varies according to many factors, but three months is a reasonable minimum expectation.

Visit here for further information.