Originally intended as just a vehicle to channel financial support for environmental research and campaigning, the Foundation now brings under one roof my analysis and information work as well ~
My eponymous foundation was devised in a spare half hour in August 2009 – when I switched my personal financial levers from ‘accumulate’ to distribute’ – and started making financial donations that October. The intention is to build up a credible portfolio of supported activity, focussed around the issues of climate change and biodiversity, with annual distributions of at least £40,000 (inclusive of matched funding) – for a period of 15 years.
After 3 years I’ve made reasonable progress towards that objective but 2012 will need to see significant advances. And just recently I’ve appreciated that it would be better if the other work I do was integrated within the Foundation, rather than existing separately and in isolation. This allows for synergies to be explored, and the flexibility to develop the Foundation as a ‘service provider’ as well as a ‘giver’. So to ARF Funding I’ve now added ARF Analysis and ARF Information. And ARF Campaigns was always there, so that’s four ‘divisions’.
You can read about each of the individual activities supported financially in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Total financial support provided since October 2009 (including matched funding, for projects where the Foundation ‘leads’) is £137,000 Please note: the Foundation does not consider unsolicited requests for financial assistance.
Some funders choose to give anonymously. I’ve chosen the route of ‘open disclosure’ from a quite specific motivation. I want to illustrate for others that – if you have some financial resources available to you; some do, others don’t – then you can and maybe should allocate a proportion to charitable giving. The actual amount is much less important than the principle (and also the mechanisms, such as the ability to secure matched funding to increase the value for your donation; or giving collectively).
As a society – in a UK already vastly wealthy compared to the Global South, and forecast to get financially richer still – and as individuals, we should spend less on personal consumption and more on investing in and protecting the natural capital* that sustains us, and our collective environmental future. If you have some spare time, volunteering for your preferred cause is equally worthwhile.
If you want to find out more about the Foundation’s activities, contact me at foundation@anthonyrae.com or tel: 01422 845061
*For the UK discussion around ‘natural capital’ look here.
Page last updated: March 2012