The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is excited to be part of The Big Give‘s ‘Christmas Challenge 2021’.
During the week of November 30 to December 7, every pound donated via The Big Give website will be doubled* – meaning you can DOUBLE your impact for nature in Devon this festive season.
There are so many incredible grassroots groups in Devon delivering vital Nature-based Solutions to tackle the climate and nature emergencies.
Since DEF’s launch in July 2020, it has supported 18 brilliant projects, awarding more than £220,000 of grants.
Here are some examples of groups DEF has recently awarded grants to:
Wildlife Wardens – providing training and resources to empower local volunteers to create more space for wildlife habitat in their communities, such as ponds, hedges, meadows, untidy verges/churchyards, etc.
Regenerative School – growing the next generation of regenerative farmers who will go on to tenant/own land and move the needle on land-use in Devon over the coming decade.
River Wildlife Corridors & Beavers – creating nature corridors along rivers to enable more wildlife to travel/thrive. Rewilding river edges protects the water from run-off and pollution while providing habitat; while beavers are nature’s engineers, creating wonderful carbon- rich and biodiverse wetlands and joy for anyone who is lucky to see them.
Seaweed Farming – helping to kickstart a pioneering start-up aiming to prove the economic, social and environmental benefits of seaweed farming. Environmentally they include carbon sequestration and providing habitat /nursery for juvenile fish.
Till the Coast is Clear – adventure beach cleaning activities to reach the parts of the coast that other cleaners can’t reach, engaging the community and having fun while cleaning up plastic pollution.
However, we are currently oversubscribed with projects applying for grants from DEF and we don’t have enough funds available to support them all.
You can help even more amazing, tangible, impactful action happen at a grassroots level here in Devon by supporting the DEF Christmas Challenge campaign.
Are you ready to give back to nature?
Find out more about DEF’s ‘Christmas Challenge’ here, and make ONE donation with TWICE the impact between 12 noon on Tuesday, November 30 and 12 noon on Tuesday, December 7 (via card payment) using this link.
“On behalf of DEF and all our project partners, we are very grateful for your support!”
*The target is to raise £7,500 between November 30 and December 7 to access the full match fund pot of £7,500 and raise a total of £15,000 for grassroots Nature-based Solutions in Devon.
Quotes from grantees
“Without DEF’s support, encouragement, guidance, and funding we would never have been able to dream big and develop a future beacon training centre. Their funding enabled us to help grow the future of regenerative farming, forestry and food production in Devon and beyond.”
– Rachel Phillips, The Apricot Centre
“Moor Meadows was thrilled to receive a grant from the DEF which enabled the creation of the online Meadow-Makers’ Forum, the formation of several new meadow groups across Devon, and the opportunity to run a series of successful online webinars.”
– Donna Cox, Moor Meadows
“DEF is our main funder and their flexibility and interest in what we are doing has been an enormous encouragement, enabling our volunteers to deliver some wonderful projects for wildlife in Teignbridge!”
– Audrey Compton, Wildlife Wardens
Quotes of support
“Everywhere you look there are brilliant people working to create positive environmental change. Small amounts of funding, strategically directed, can supercharge this work.”
— Ben Goldsmith, Co-Founder of DEF and Founder of the Conservation Collective
“DEF is doing an incredible job of discovering pioneering nature regeneration projects. It’s a brilliant way to expand our mission of reconnecting people to nature & their natural human potential, and to kickstart a halo of positive change for a regenerative future.”
— Galahad Clark, DEF Donor and CEO of Vivobarefoot
“Rockfish donates via the DEF to enable us to pool funds with like-minded donors to leverage our impact. Then we can support even more grassroots projects delivering vital Nature- based Solutions to tackle the climate, plastic and biodiversity crises – in very tangible ways on our doorstep in Devon.”
— Mitch Tonks, DEF Donor and Founder of Rockfish Sustainable Seafood Restaurants
