Funding

European Union

Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE)

• The EU provides funding for the political priorities for the Integrated Maritime Policy expressed by the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament under Regulation 1255/2011. The EU provides funding for the fishing industry and coastal communities through the European fisheries fund, which is managed by the authorities in each EU country.

Introduction to EU Funding

• The Commission awards money in the form of grants in order to implement projects or activities in relation to European Union policies. These grants may be awarded within fields as diverse as research, education, health, consumer protection, protection of the environment, humanitarian aid, etc. The grant beneficiaries are mainly private or public organisations, and exceptionally individuals, chosen by the European Commission for their capacity to implement the projects concerned. 

Global

Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA)

• The CFA is a free, global and collaborative network of volunteer members, who take part in CFA's Working Groups, Executive Committee and Secretariat. The network’s mission is to promote sustainable financing for biodiversity conservation worldwide. As the CFA should reflect a diversity of organizations and individuals from different parts of the world, membership in the CFA is open to individuals and institutions (government agencies, NGOs, foundations, environmental funds, private companies, academia, conservation networks, and others) interested in the use of sustainable financing mechanisms for conservation, in information related to sustainable finance, and in the subjects particularly addressed by each active WG. Members can greatly benefit from the CFA, while are also expected to collaborate and add to the network’s mission. 

The Little Biodiversity Finance Book

• The aim of the book is to help key stakeholders including governments, NGOs, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities to compare existing and future options for biodiversity and ecosystem finance in a clear and consistent way. Based on the latest available information, the 2012 edition of the book identifies sources of finance that can be harnessed to raise up to USD 159 billion by 2020 to help meet the target of halting global biodiversity loss. This loss is currently costing at least USD 740 billion annually in lost ecosystem services that are vital to our economies and our well-being.

Sustainable Financing of Protected Areas: A Global Review of Challenges and Options

• Over the past two years, discussions on Protected Area (PA) finance have formed a key agenda item during global deliberations on biodiversity conservation. Both the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (Durban, September 2003) and the seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Kuala Lumpur, February 2004) observed that insufficient investment is being made in biodiversity conservation in general and protected areas in particular. Both meetings called for innovative approaches to generate the additional funding required to ensure that biodiversity of global, national and local significance is conserved. A recent international meeting on biodiversity science and governance, hosted by UNESCO and the government of France (Paris, January 2005), likewise identified finance as one of several critical issues to be addressed if the world is to meet the CBD/WSSD 2010 Biodiversity Target. A particular concern in all of these processes has been the level and types of funding available for PAs, which lie at the core of global efforts to conserve biodiversity.

Crowdfunding

Crowdrise

• Crowdrise is about giving back, raising tons of money for charity and having the most fun in the world while doing it. The Crowdrise community was named a “Top 25 Best Global Philanthropist” by Barron’s. The Crowdrise site is a unique blend of online fundraising, crowdsourcing, social networking, contests, and other nice stuff. If you don't understand anything on the site, please check out the How It Works Page or How it Works Video or just ask any fifteen year old. 

Start Some Good

• StartSomeGood empowers people from around the world to become social innovators. By connecting social entrepreneurs with the financial and intellectual capital they need to transform an idea for improving the world into a reality, together we can turn ideas into action and impact. There are no shortage of problems in the world, and no shortage of people with ideas to address them, yet they lack the resources that they need to get started. StartSomeGood provides social entrepreneurs with a platform to raise start-up funds and build a community of supporters -- all in a fun, engaging and community-driven way. Our site taps into the power of the crowd, allowing social entrepreneurs to ask for small amounts of money from supporters from around the world, and gives them the tools to update their supporters, provide unique rewards in exchange for support and run multiple campaigns over time. We’ve taken the crowdfunding model -- which is growing in popularity world-wide -- and customized it to reflect the unique needs of social entrepreneurs.