Introduction >
In October 2006, Lord Evans of Watford launched GrantScape’s third national nature conservation grant programme – the Biodiversity Challenge Fund 2007. This announcement was made during a special event, held at Woburn Safari Lodge, to celebrate the five grants awarded through our 2006 Biodiversity Challenge and to review the progress of the nine projects supported through our 2005 Challenge. With £2 million available, and as with the previous two years’ Challenges, the new programme was specifically designed to support groups working on key projects in England and Wales conserving and protecting the UK’s endangered species and its priority habitats on a landscape scale.
GrantScape’s Chief Executive, Steven Hargreaves explained:
“As an environmental funder, we are passionate about protecting the UK’s biodiversity. This is why GrantScape has awarded grants totaling £8 million since 2005 to help conserve the UK’s most precious wildlife and habitats, supporting national Biodiversity Action Plan priorities”.
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Grant programme design >
The Funding Criteria for 2007’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund were designed by our Grants Team and approved by GrantScape’s Board. The amount for individual grants available was set at between £200,000 and £400,000, with funding being available over a maximum of four years. As a special feature of the grant programme, our Board also decided that no match funding nor Contributing Third Party (CTP) donations were to be required.
These criteria were designed to ensure a good level of applications for a range of really high quality biodiversity projects, without creating too great a level of over-subscription and thus disappointment.
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Application process >
The grant programme’s application process used documents downloadable from GrantScape’s website, with our standard application form being employed to collect basic project information from applicants. In addition, groups were required to complete a maximum 15-page project plan answering a set of specific, detailed questions for which full guidance was provided. They were also asked to submit a project financial summary using our purpose-built spreadsheet with instructions incorporated. Once completed, these three documents, plus project site maps, were to be submitted by post to GrantScape. A CD containing copies of these was also requested.
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Promotion >
The Biodiversity Challenge Fund 2007 was promoted through GrantScape’s website and in our e-newsletter, “OutLook”. We also sent emails to every Local Biodiversity Action Plan co-ordinator in England and Wales to advise them of the Fund’s availability and to seek their support in identifying funding opportunities falling within the areas covered by their Biodiversity Action plans.
This proved to be a highly effective means of reaching potential applicant groups across England and Wales
Applications received >
We received a record 45 applications to the 2007 Biodiversity Challenge Fund, all of which were eligible. These sought a total of £15.7 million in grants for projects costing nearly £32 million. The projects were well spread, coming from all over England and Wales. Return to top
Assessment process >
To assist our Trustees in reaching decisions on grants to be awarded it is GrantScape’s standard practice for programmes such as this to enlist the support of a group of independent specialists. Ahead of the grant programme’s launch, we therefore formed an Advisory Group which included experts from Natural England, Countryside Council for Wales and the Environment Agency. At its meeting, the Advisory Group (chaired by a GrantScape Trustee) was presented with a two-page assessment of each grant application, prepared by our Grants Team. These were specifically designed for the Biodiversity Challenge Fund 2007 and were set out in a standard format to aid comparison and evaluation. One-page executive summaries, taken from the applicants’ project plans, were also provided.
After the Advisory Group’s meeting, at which its recommendations to GrantScape’s Board were agreed, one of the members wrote to us as follows:
“GrantScape brings welcome fresh resources for biodiversity action in Wales, and the GrantScape management team provides first-class support. Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) is delighted to be associated with this successful funding scheme”.
(Joanna Roberts, Senior Biodiversity Advisor, CCW)
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Successful applicants >
Following GrantScape’s Board meeting in July 2007, six successful groups and their projects were announced: Butterfly Conservation – awarded a grant of £246,800 to conserve the highly threatened High Brown Fritillary butterfly in the Morecambe Bay Limestones area, its national stronghold
Devon Wildlife Trust – awarded a grant of £398,000 to restore and recreate biodiversity-rich Culm grassland in north-west Devon, the county’s most important habitat
Forestry Commission – awarded a grant of £294,000 to support the “Grow with Wyre” programme, restoring wood pasture and relic parkland, managing veteran trees and rejuvenating neglected orchards on a landscape scale across the Wyre Forest
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) – awarded a grant of £315,400 to extend and improve internationally important lowland heathland habitat at its flagship reserve on the Arne Peninsula AONB in Dorset
The RSPB – awarded a grant of £350,000 to help to create an exciting new 500 hectare wetland reserve in east Kent, by buying and then transforming existing low-grade arable land.
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust – awarded a grant of £400,000 to conserve and re-create internationally important, species-rich chalk grassland habitat on a landscape scale in Wiltshire.
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Grant programme evaluation and applicant feedback >
For our major specialist grant programmes, Grantscape always seek feedback from all applicants on their experience of our end-to end application process, whether or not they are awarded a grant. 
For the Biodiversity Challenge Fund 2007 we had a 27% response rate. Of those groups that returned our questionnaire, 58.3% assessed our overall service level as “Excellent”, with the remaining 41.7% assessing this as “Good”.
A selection of the quotes from successful and unsuccessful applicants follows:
“GrantScape are a pleasure to work with – friendly, flexible and professional.”
“It is impossible to fault the GrantScape team!”
“The fit of the funding programme with what we are trying to achieve is very good and the application process and grant management are first-class.”
“GrantScape’s funding scheme and its application processes are among the best I have encountered over many years of fundraising in the environmental sector.”
“The process/service was really good. Only complaint was that we were unsuccessful!!”
“At last a fund which is biodiversity focused and one which has a straightforward application process.”
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An important final word of thanks >
GrantScape would particularly like to thank Waste Recycling Group Limited who very kindly provided the monies for all three of our Biodiversity Challenges, through the Landfill Communities Fund.
We are also very grateful to our Advisory Group members for their advice and support with this highly successful grant programme.
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