It has been a very busy couple of months for the SMEEF team. Between releasing our first Impact Report, working hard on both fundraising (announcements soon) and grant giving (almost £400,000 distributed over the summer) we have a lot to update you on. If that wasn’t enough, SMEEF was recently recognised by being shortlisted for a Nature of Scotland Award, a finalist for the Scottish Green Energy Awards and received a grant under the FIRNS Programme!
Read on for more!
Finalists for a NOSA Award and for the Scottish Green Energy Awards.
We are delighted to announce that SMEEF has been shortlisted for a Nature of Scotland Award in the ‘Coasts and Water Awards’ category. The awards, which are administered by the RSPB, represent a cross-section of businesses, charities, the public sector and individuals working towards conserving the country’s unique wildlife and natural environment. We are chuffed to bits that our work is being recognised and look forward to attending the awards ceremony in November.
Whilst it is lovely to be nominated ourselves, it is just as exciting to see a number of projects we have funded have also been shortlisted in the ‘Nature and Climate’ and the ‘Coasts and Water’ categories. The St. Andrews Links Trust received a grant for important sand dune restoration and the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) new vessel ‘Explorer’ was in our first ever grant round. Biosecurity for Life also received funding and SMEEF was able to facilitate grants to HWDT and the Sv Silurian too! We wish them the best of luck for the final result.
SMEEF has also been shortlisted for the Scottish Green Energy Awards in the ’Sustainable Development’ category! We are delighted that our work has been recognised by Scottish Renewables. The awards are a celebration of the inspirational organisations, people and projects going above and beyond to make a real difference to the health, wealth and wellbeing of Scotland. We look forward to seeing the final results.
FIRNS Grant
We have also been successful in obtaining a grant from the Facility for Investment Ready Nature Scotland scheme. Entitled ‘Developing a sustainable Scottish source to sea, nature finance model’ the grant allows us to contract specialist advice to explore options for future development of SMEEF, including potential links to a proposed new fund for river / catchment restoration, led by Fisheries Management Scotland. We will also be exploring risks and opportunities of engagement in new nature finance funding mechanisms. We will share the learning from this work as it progresses over the next 6 months.
The great news doesn’t stop here. We have a lot more to update you on in due course but until then, if you would like to ask us anything about our work, or make a contribution to the funding pot please email info@smeef.scot any time.