News

Robert Harding

The UK is now recognised as one of the most nature-depleted countries globally. Species abundance has fallen by 19% since 1970 and one in six species are now at risk of extinction. Pollinators are declining, habitats are deteriorating, and many rivers, woodlands and peatlands continue to be degraded (RSPB’s UK State of Nature Report 2023).

With government budgets stretched and priorities split, the philanthropic sector requires focused effort to address the catastrophic consequences that rapidly declining biodiversity will create. Yet The Big Give Green Match Fund Annual Impact Report 2025 found that just 5% of UK public giving goes to environmental causes.

Despite this, there is hope.

A new wave of sustainably minded community leaders are emerging. Co-Founders of Youngwilders, Jack Durrant and Noah Bennett, have seen their youth-led nature recovery project boom since we met them in 2023. They’ve now created 348 acres of new habitat whilst mobilising over 1,600 young people in the process. Meanwhile, new business ventures like Nattergal are, importantly, making nature recovery a sensible business investment.

At The Fore, we have seen momentum building and, since December 2024, we’ve provided £315,000 in unrestricted funding to small green charities through our Sustainability and Environment fund. The quality and number of grassroots organisations tackling these problems has increased ten-fold, a further indication that the grassroots are responding, and responding well.

The trend can be seen in the wider UK charitable sector too – foundation donations directed towards environmental causes rose to 8.5% in 2024, up from 5.8% in 2018/19, according to the Environmental Funders Network’s 2024 Annual Report. We are encouraged to see the sector acting where the public sector is struggling to respond.

The increase is welcomed, but it’s not enough.

Yet, most of the funding in the space still goes to the largest organisations – 92% of charitable funding goes to the largest 8% of charities in the UK, whilst 19 out of 30 of the UK’s largest charities by income held the same top 30 position in 1996. The top of the sector hasn’t changed in a generation, but the problems we face as a society have. We need to innovate and fund differently if we are going to make meaningful progress.

Barriers to funding mean many of the most innovative and effective responses, led by small charities and social enterprises that are rooted in their local communities, stay stuck in their infancy.

Grassroots organisations working in nature recovery know what local land needs better than anyone. They are restoring habitats, protecting wildlife and mobilising communities to take action in practical conservation. The potential for impact is huge but, as we see time and again at The Fore, they often struggle to achieve it because of the longstanding barriers they face to accessing the funding they need to invest in their organisation and achieve their potential.  

Through our Nature Recovery Fund, we aim to help address the gap.

We’ve been having conversations with a nature-loving, forward thinking partner of ours who has been alarmed by the rate at which biodiversity in the UK has fallen over the last 50 years. She pointed out the 60% decline of farmland birds and 50% decline in insects since the 1970s, a statistic that both shocked and inspired us into action. Together with Chief of Staff at Langland Conservation and partner of The Fore, Becky Holmes, we’ve designed our inaugural Nature Recovery Fund and are very proud to be launching it as part of our Spring 2027 Funding Round.

This fund works at the nexus of communities and nature recovery, and we are encouraging applications from high-potential, ambitious organisations tackling these important problems.

This might be through restoring, improving, expanding, or connecting habitats and ecosystems, or working collaboratively with landowners and community stakeholders to drive more sustainable ways for the land and natural environment to be managed.

Equally, we would like to encourage organisations that are working with underrepresented communities and demographic groups to encourage and inspire meaningful participation.

With our wraparound support package of up to £45,000 of unrestricted funding, impact measurement courses, access to skilled volunteers, trainings, and peer learning opportunities, we strengthen organisations so that they can build and grow their impact sustainably.

Registrations for the round open from 12pm (midday) on Wednesday 25th November to 12pm (midday) on Friday 4th December.

For more information, please visit our Application Guidelines or contact [email protected].