End of Year Update 2024

2024 has been a brilliant year for Devon Environment Foundation. This autumn we reached £1m grants awarded since we launched 4.5 years ago! 🥳

This is all thanks to our generous donors, and of course our inspirational grantees who deliver such important impact on the ground, protecting and restoring the nature we all love.

The grants we awarded this year have had diverse impact, including:

• addressing river water quality 💧
• protecting seagrass beds 🌱
• breeding native wild cats and white storks 🐈
• helping swifts and ospreys to thrive🦅
• enabling nature-friendly farming training and farm clusters🧑‍🌾
• reducing pesticide use among communities 🐝
• cleaning up plastic pollution ♻️
• scroll through all the grants we’ve awareded to date here.

 

The urgent need for funding nature restoration in Devon continues to grow. We’ve been working with dozens of groups on their grant applicaitons for Q1 2025, which we anticipate will be our biggest grant round yet.

So we’ve stepped up DEF’s winter fundraising efforts to support as many of these projects as possible to do their vital work.

We’re inviting you to get involved in whatever way you feel able:

• donations of any size to our End of Year Crowdfunder 
• buying entries for our Christmas Prize Draw to win a VIP weekend by the sea
• joining our Dip into Nature winter challenge (including group dip events on 22nd Dec at Blackpool Sands and 1st Jan at Bigbury-on-Sea, more here)
• sharing any / all of the above with your personal and professional networks

 

Your support will truly make a difference for nature in Devon in 2025. 💫

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us this year. 🙏 Without you, none of our impact would be possible.

IMPACT SPOTLIGHT: Friends of the Dart 💧

DEF grantee, Friends of the Dart, are making waves with their commitment to water quality and river health.

Our grant supports their year-round bacterial and chemical testing program along the River Dart, which expanded from 7 to 13 water quality testing sites during 2024.

Their efforts don’t stop there! This grassroots initiative is working with South West Water to drive infrastructure updates to restore the Dart’s ecological balance.

They’re also exploring how to bring back restorative aquaculture (hello, oysters and mussels!🦪) and engaging the community through a series of events and workshops.

An entry into the Christmas Prizedraw 🎅

A certificate of donation to DEF – via our Crowdfunder rewards 🎁

Have a wonderful festive season! 🎄