Environmental Funders Network

The tide turns for fossil fuel companies: public opinion begins to hold them responsible for climate change

Eva Beresford, Climate Change Collaboration The tide turns for fossil fuel companies: public opinion begins to hold them responsible for climate change

Posted on 2 Oct 2018

To reduce the disproportionate burden of climate change on the world’s poorest, the transition to a low carbon economy must be fast. Alongside market development, technological advances and political action, climate change litigation can trigger rapid carbon reduction and at the same time, reduce fossil fuel companies’ social license to operate. Philanthropy plays a key role in supporting all manner of climate change litigation, but also in raising awareness about public opinion on climate change responsibility and duty to pay for its impacts. Demonstrating a supportive public is an essential backdrop for legal decisions and increases their chances of success.

Keywords: climate change, litigation, public opinion

Lynda Mansson, MAVA Foundation The Unexpected Benefits of Closing

Posted on 20 Jul 2018

Since the MAVA Foundation announced it would close its doors in 2022, its stakeholders have reacted with shock, disbelief, tears, indignation, worry, interest and -- more rarely -- congratulations. Even rarer still is an understanding of the unexpected benefits of closing, of which there are many.

Keywords: conservation, spending-down

Chris Large, Global Action Plan How connecting young people to their sense of rebellion, their values and their community can save the planet

Posted on 2 Jul 2018

By connecting young people to their sense of rebellion, their values and their communities, we can help turn on its head the increasingly pervasive norm that success is defined by what you earn and what you own. In so doing, we can improve young people's mental health and help protect the environment at the same time.

Keywords: consumerism, effectiveness, health, joined-up-thinking

Chris Large, Global Action Plan Rethinking consumerism for the sake of young people’s mental health (and the planet)

Posted on 24 May 2018

British millennials have the second worst mental wellbeing in the world, second only to Japan. One in four young women between the ages of 16 and 24 report having self-harmed and 93% of teachers report increased levels of mental illness in children and young people. What if the solution to the mental health crisis facing young people is the same as tackling environmental degradation?

Keywords: consumerism, health, joined-up-thinking

Building collaboration between academia and conservation

Posted on 30 Apr 2018

It is over thirty years since Michael Soulé proposed his model of conservation biology as a “synthetic, multi-disciplinary science”. Since everything humanity needs and does is ultimately derived from nature, it is imperative the sciences, social sciences, policy, practice, human rights, international development, legal and financial systems, culture and the arts come together to address one of the most pressing existential crises of our time. The Collaborative Fund is designed to support such collaboration between nine biodiversity conservation organisations and the University of Cambridge.

Keywords: collaboration, conservation, effectiveness, funding overseas, joined-up-thinking

Eva Rehse and Ursula Miniszewski, Global Greengrants Fund The State of Funding for Women’s Environmental Action

Posted on 8 Mar 2018

Women around the globe are at the forefront of addressing the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation; designing, implementing, and scaling up their own solutions. Yet, as a new mapping report by Global Greengrants Fund and Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds reveals, only 0.2 percent of all foundation funding focuses explicitly on women and the environment. This means that there is a great opportunity for funders committed to protecting our planet to improve their interventions by supporting compelling women-led solutions.

Keywords: effectiveness, funding overseas, grassroots, women

Peter Lipman My cause is your cause

Posted on 22 Feb 2018

Why did an Australian conservation organisation email its supporters encouraging them to vote for same-sex marriage, and what can environmental funders learn from their experience?

Keywords: communications, effectiveness, joined-up-thinking, values

Sian Ferguson, Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts Remember, remember the 12th of December

Posted on 12 Jan 2018

On 12 December, 2018, the second anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres convened world leaders for the One Planet Summit. It was an extraordinary event.

Keywords: climate change

Isabel Carlisle, Bioregional Learning Centre Stewarding the environment and building relationships of trust

Posted on 4 Sep 2017

One of the toughest challenges facing us in caring for the environment is that it is going to take all of us working together. The big systemic challenges like climate change or economically-driven degradation of the natural world need systemic responses. Responses are not hard to design, but how to do we achieve the ‘all of us working together’ part? The USA is way out ahead of us here, with funders partnering up with backbone organisations and giving unrestricted funding, in relationships of trust. It is time we in the UK caught up with this approach to whole-systems change.

Keywords: collaboration, collective-impact, systems change

Florence Miller, Environmental Funders Network The most effective environmental groups, as rated by their peers

Posted on 11 Jul 2017

We asked 92 chief executives of environmental organisations, “Which non-profit UK environmental organisations (not including your own) do you think accomplish the most, given the resources at their disposal?” Here's what they told us.

Keywords: effectiveness

Blog