Our Natural World guidance

Applying for support in Our Natural World

• In each priority, we have identified a number of long-term outcomes. We want to know how your work contributes to these.
• If you are working across more than one area, this will make us more, rather than less likely to support you.
• We are keen to support organisations working in partnerships, as well as key organisations that work across our priorities to convene, mobilise or generate new ideas.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• We commit to funding more organisations led by communities experiencing racial inequity, and in Our Natural World – where the majority of organisations are not ethnically diverse – we will use our position as a funder to influence recruitment and governance practice to be more inclusive.

1. Space for nature, and biodiversity, is restored at scale on land and at sea.

We want to support work that:

• Changes the conditions for nature recovery by tackling the underlying causes of nature’s decline or removes barriers to nature recovery. This could include:
  • Influencing policy, law, regulation, public spending and how existing commitments are implemented and enforced
  • Strengthening environmental law and accountability, changing institutional practice and who owns or controls land and natural resources
  • Changing financial systems, markets, business practice, procurement and supply chains so that less money supports activities that damage nature and more flows towards nature recovery
  • Building and using evidence, data and shared infrastructure to improve decisions and delivery
  • Shifting public narratives or building support for change, where this is linked to a clear objective, audience and route to influence
  • Strengthening community organising, leadership, networks, alliances and coordination across sectors so that people most affected by environmental decisions can build collective power and organisations can act together for long-term change
  • Developing new approaches to funding, finance, or delivery that could be adopted more widely
• Demonstrates nature recovery in practice. This includes practical work that restores nature across landscapes, river catchments, seascapes, or at a meaningful urban scale. By this, we mean work that can affect change in more than one place, for example, by demonstrating approaches that could be used elsewhere, influencing policy or practice, unlocking investment, or changing how nature recovery is funded or delivered.

2. More nature rich spaces for people to access and enjoy, particularly those facing barriers to doing so.

We want to support work that:

• Work that is community-led: We particularly welcome work led by, and for, communities that have had little say in environmental decisions or face the greatest barriers to accessing and benefiting from nature. We recognise that leadership can take different forms and want to understand how communities shape the work and its delivery.
• Work that creates a lasting change: We’re interested in work designed to achieve wider or longer-term change. For example, the work might:
  • Enable communities to gain greater influence, decision-making power or ownership
  • Change how public bodies (e.g. local authorities),[JD1] landowners or environmental organisations work with communities
  • Test an approach that could be adopted or adapted in other places
  • Contribute to wider changes in policy, practice or funding
  • Build lasting local leadership, networks or infrastructure
  • Form a significant part of a wider programme for nature recovery or environmental justice
• Collaboration where it adds value: Where applicants choose to work with community organisations, environmental organisations, public bodies or others, we will consider whether the partnership adds value by improving access to nature, strengthening community influence or connecting local experience to wider change. We recognise the time and resources needed to build equitable partnerships and may support this work.