Eco fund
Our Eco fund provides grants to local good causes which aim to protect and regenerate our local environment.
Our Eco fund was launched in 2008 in response to your Society leading the way and introducing a 5p levy on one-trip carrier bags in an attempt to reduce the number used. This year, ahead of the single-use bag ban being introduced in 2021, we have increased the price of our Bag for Life from 10p to 15p. This means we can give back even more money to causes which protect our local environment.
Today in 2020, our environment, single-use plastics, recycling and sustainability are making headlines almost every day. We know first-hand what a difference we can make to our environment together, and that’s why we’re committed to protecting and promoting our islands’ ecosystems through our Eco fund.
Your Society would normally launch the Eco fund in July but due to Covid-19 we were forced to delay the fund this year. This year’s fund will now run between Tuesday 1 September and Wednesday 30 September.
If you are a charity, community group, school, individual or business who has a project which aims to nurture and protect the local environment then please do apply here.
Below is a list of past projects which were awarded funds last year to give you an idea of the types of projects we have funded.
We will review all applications after the closing date and be in touch to let you know if you have been successful or not.
Eco Fund 2019
In 2019 we received 22 requests for funding from across both islands and were able to donate more than £11,000 to 11 local projects.
Jersey
|
Project |
Funds donated |
How the funding will be used |
|
Samares School Sanctuary Garden |
£750 |
A Sanctuary Garden to promote the well-being of children within a wildlife-rich area. |
|
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust |
£816.36 |
Empowering local children to engage with the wild natural spaces of the zoo and animal collection. The funds will be used to purchase tablets which will allow students to lead their own learning and help to measure nature connection in Jersey’s secondary school students. |
|
Jersey Trees for Life |
£1,000 |
Jersey Trees for Life plant thousands of whips around the island each winter, with the aim of having one continuing living corridor around Jersey for wildlife to survive in, away from busy roads and prey. |
|
Jersey Heritage - recycling |
£1,320 |
To assist the introduction of a formal recycling policy across the various Jersey Heritage sites. This funding will be used to purchase recycling bins for various Jersey Heritage sites, in keeping with the surroundings. |
|
Save our Shoreline |
£1,000 |
Testing shellfish samples for heavy metals/metals ingested. This is a follow up study after a baseline was taken July 2009. This study will see if the quality of the waters in the Ramsar Area has changed over that time. |
|
Acorn Woodshack |
£1,000 |
The Woodshack uses donated waste timber, which produces waste in the form of sawdust which can be turned into briquettes. The money will buy a Briquette Machine capable of processing different waste, including softwood, shavings or dust, and also shredded straw, paper and cardboard. |
Guernsey
|
Organisation |
Amount |
How the funding will be used |
|
Edible Guernsey |
£1,500 |
Expand and create a "food forest" growing perennials using low maintenance, sustainable, permaculture principles. The food forest will comprise fruit trees, vines and bushes, perennial vegetables (e.g. globe artichoke, rhubarb, asparagus), herbs and companion plants to reduce pest pressure. |
|
'The Gatehouse' -Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden |
£1,500 |
The funding will be used to buy educational equipment and accessories destined for the new education and heritage/visitor centre. This will help to expand educational programmes through the purchase of educational tools. |
|
SHARE Education Service |
£1,500 |
Providing young people with sustainable menstrual products with the aim of reducing the amount of single use pads, tampons etc. going into Bailiwick refuse. |
|
Little Bears Nature Preschool |
£200 |
To purchase pollinator plants for the outdoor pollinator patch and gardening tools for the children to use in gardening areas, plus wooden planters to display plants. |
|
Guernsey Hedgehog Rescue Centre |
£750 |
Providing head torches and additional Night Vision Viewer, plus equipment for the care and release of hedgehogs. This will help to increase the size of the areas checked. |
See some of our previous Eco Fund success stories:
Vale Primary school have a new outdoor classroom, thanks to a little help from the Co-op's Eco fund.
See more >
Alderney Wildlife Trust were able to purchase a telescope for their seabird observation programmes.
See more >
A donation of £1,600 enabled Guernsey Beekeepers Association to purchase an equipment shed.
See more >
A donation from our Eco Fund helped Peter kick-start his squirrel conservation project.
See more >
Who we’ve helped previously
In 2018 we received 30 requests for funding from across both Islands and we were able to donate over £17,000 to 14 local charities and organisations.
Jersey
|
Name of project |
Funds donated |
Description of how funding will be used |
|
Les Landes School Garden and wildlife garden |
£500 |
To enhance the school’s nature garden with chickens and honey bees, helping to educate the children by encouraging and developing their experience outdoors through eco lessons. |
|
Seedy Sunday |
£500 |
To help promote and encourage islanders to save their seeds so they can be swapped with others at an event to be held in early 2019, local wild flower seeds will be stored by the National Trust for Jersey and used for wild meadow projects. All proceeds from the event will then be donated to Brightly to help develop the garden for the youngsters in their care. |
|
Le Pre Arthur Regeneration by Grouville Primary School |
£1,000 |
The funding will be used to create a naturalistic, willow, bird hide overlooking the wettest part of the meadow and the pond. This will allow children to observe and record wildlife throughout the year. |
|
Guide Dogs for the Blind |
£500 |
The funds will be used towards advertising their BIGGEST Book sale, which is now in its 25th year. All funds raised from the event will go towards supporting the Guide Dogs for the Blind Jersey branch. |
|
Jersey Marine Conservation Marine Breeding clean-up |
£1,000 |
To purchase specialist equipment in order to safely and effectively remove rubbish and debris from coves along the coast and isolated parts of our reef system while they gather data on key marine species and habitats such as sea birds, seals and crustaceans. |
|
Kitchen Garden Project |
£500 |
To install a transparent composter at Samares School, which would allow the children to see how the composting process works for their science and outdoor learning. |
|
Grainville school allotment |
£500 |
To purchase equipment for the running and maintenance of an allotment which is attended weekly by various groups of students as well as for greenhouse repairs. |
|
Bel Royal School Pond |
£500 |
The Fund will be used to develop an environmentally and eco-friendly garden for the students of the school by refurbishing their existing pond. |
Guernsey
|
Name of project |
Funds donated |
Description of how funding will be used |
|
Vale Outdoor Classroom |
£1,000 |
To transform a large area of tarmac at the back of the school hall into an inviting, peaceful learning environment for the pupils, with the children’s mental health and wellbeing being the focus. |
|
Plastic Free Guernsey |
£1,000 |
To help promote and raise awareness of Plastic Free Guernsey through local events to assist in reducing the use of plastic across the island such as single-use coffee cups, as well as providing educational materials for talks at local schools. |
|
Removal of Sour Fig from Les Tielles, Guernsey |
£990 |
The funds will be used to hire skips for volunteer working parties that are undertaking an active program to remove sour fig (a non-native, invasive species which smothers native plants and offers little in the food chain for insects, bees, butterflies and birds) from the Les Tielles cliff area. |
|
Pick It Up Guernsey |
£1,100 |
To purchase new generation portable ashtrays for distribution in Guernsey to tackle cigarette litter |
|
Pick It Up Guernsey |
£600 |
To purchase wombling kits to be donated to beach kiosks and other businesses to lend to customers to womble on the coastline in Guernsey. |
