Sea-Changers Marine Conservation Social Fund 2023/4

Overview

They are delighted to announce the second call for applications to the Sea-Changers Marine Conservation Social Fund.

Overview

The aim of the Marine Conservation Social Fund is to support socially beneficial marine conservation approaches and solutions.

Sea-Changers’ Main Grants Fund

Their main grant fund projects achieve one or more of the following objectives:

1. To address the root causes of marine conservation threats and challenges in the UK.
2. To prevent or reduce negative impacts on UK coastal and marine environments and/or species.
3. To add to the body of knowledge about marine conservation threats and challenges in the UK and ways to overcome them.

Sea-Changers Marine Conservation Social Fund

While the Social Fund may support any of the above three objectives, its unique emphasis is that it will additionally support or enhance participants’ health and well-being and / or deliver benefits for disadvantaged communities, through marine conservation activity.

Participants might include: refugees, people experiencing mental ill health, ex offenders, disabled people, people seeking employment. Communities might include those that are economically disadvantaged or where there are issues of social cohesion to be addressed.

The Fund first ran in 2021 and you can get an idea of the kinds of projects funded by reading about the successful applications here.

Funding Levels

The 2023/4 Fund totals £23,000 and is made possible by a single donation to Sea-Changers. They are particularly interested in funding pilot programmes that, following careful evaluation, might be continued, expanded and/or replicated with additional funding in future years (subject to Sea-Changers securing such funding).

They expect to fund between four and seven projects in 2023/4, so grant requests should be in the region of £3,000 - £5,000. 
 

What are they looking for

Sea-Changers is particularly interested in grassroots projects which galvanise community action and in projects which increase the number of people taking action for marine conservation.

Participants might include refugees, people experiencing mental health issues, ex-offenders, disabled people or people seeking employment. Communities might include those where deprivation is a significant issue or where there are issues of social cohesion to be addressed.

The types of projects that they envisage funding could include:

• Marine conservation education and engagement projects - e.g. campaigns or activities reaching out to and working with people who don’t currently engage with the sea, raising awareness and interest in marine conservation issues and enabling people to get involved.
• Citizen science and/or practical or direct-action marine conservation projects working with disadvantaged communities and/or people with health/wellbeing issues which aim to increase community cohesion/engagement and deliver personal/health benefits through volunteering.

They are particularly interested in funding pilot programmes that, following careful evaluation, might be continued, expanded and/or replicated with additional funding in future years (subject to Sea-Changers securing ongoing funding).

They are looking for new projects to fund so unfortunately previous successful applicants need not apply.
 

Who

They welcome applications from a wide range of UK based organisations including charities and ‘not-for-profit’ organisations and community groups.

They actively encourage applications for projects that may be formed through partnerships between marine conservation organisations and social welfare organisations.

As is the case with all of their grants, Sea-Changers is particularly interested in grassroots projects that galvanise community action and in projects that increase the number of people taking action for marine conservation.

Evaluation Criteria

Eligible applications will be evaluated against the following criteria:

1. Potential for impact on coastal and marine environments and/or species

• What is the potential/expected impact on the coastal and marine environment and/or species and is this impact significant?

1. Potential for impact on disadvantaged people or communities

• What is the potential/expected impact on the target community or individuals and how will it be measured?
• Is there a realistic plan outlined to identify and engage with the target community or individuals?

1. Value for money

• How well justified is the sum proposed?
• Is it good value for money and is there potential for our grant to kickstart funding from other sources?
• Are there other ways that the funding could be obtained?

1. Deliverability and Scalability

• Is the application convincing in terms of deliverability? Does it outline clear timescales?
• Have suitable partners or potential partners been identified and are they ‘on board’/is this a joint bid?
• If the project is a success is there wider applicability?
• How will success or failure of the project will be judged and evaluated? How will learning be shared?