Double your donation to the Organic Research Centre with the Big Give Green Match Fund 2023

The Organic Research Centre (ORC) is taking part in the Big Give Green Match Fund 2023 to raise £20,000 in just 1 week! These funds will go towards ORC’s ‘The Importance of Hedgerows’ appeal.

Our landscape was once dominated by woodland and hedgerows, but decades of intensive farming and urban development have decimated the countryside. Ancient woodland now covers just 2.5% of the UK’s land area and we have lost 50% of our hedgerows since 1945, and they are still in decline. As a result, animals that once flourished in these habitats are also significantly diminished.

• Up to 75% of all of Britain’s rural hedgehogs have been lost in the past 20 years.
• Dormouse numbers have declined by up to 80% between 1994 and 2018.
• There has been a 41% decline in the woodland butterfly index for the UK between 1990 and 2019.

It is not too late to reverse this devastation, but we need to act now. That is why ORC is launching it’s ‘The Importance of Hedgerows’ appeal.

Healthy hedgerows are teeming with life and vital for nature. There is much anecdotal evidence that they foster the biodiversity of connected woodlands by enabling species to move from one area to another.

With funding from ‘The Importance of Hedgerows’ appeal, ORC will conduct a research project that will provide the scientific evidence to validate this belief. Once completed the project will add further weight to the argument for expanding the hedgerow network across the UK. Such an expansion would play a vital role in reversing the decline of our indigenous wildlife.

Donations to ‘The Importance of Hedgerows’ appeal will be generously matched by The Big Give Trust during the campaign. In order to access the £10,000 we have in the matching pot, we need to raise £10,000 in online donations. All support would be greatly appreciated and make a real difference to our work promoting the vital role hedgerows play in their local ecology.

The campaign will close at 12pm on Thursday, 27th April. 

For more information, please contact Sarah Barrett supporters@organicresearchcentre.com    

About the Organic Research Centre  

The Organic Research Centre (ORC) is an independent research charity working for better and more sustainable farming systems that protect the environment and provide good food for everyone. It drives its own research agenda to tackle global issues by acting locally and finding community-based solutions for farmers and their supply chains. Its vision is that, together, we’ll deliver the transition to naturally healthy and resilient farming systems by: 

• Leading change by connecting and collaborating internally and externally across our networks of researchers and farmers.   
• Bringing new thinking to the mainstream by developing nature positive solutions through pioneering and rigorous independent research.   
• Empowering people to embrace different ideas by translating our research into practical application and advice, influencing policymakers, farming communities and wider society. 
• Demonstrating the economic as well as the environmental rationale for an alternative approach to improve livelihoods and social impact.  

Established in 1980, for over 40 years the charity has played a central role in the development of organic food and farming research, knowledge exchange, policy and standard setting through:  

• Participatory research  
• Sharing knowledge  
• Influencing policy  

Big Give is a registered charity (1136547) that runs match funded campaigns for charities and special causes at key moments across the year. By connecting charities to match funders (like philanthropists, foundations or corporates) and the public, Big Give helps them double their donations. And, in doing so, makes an extraordinary difference to the world’s biggest challenges. It has raised more than £236m for charities, to date.

It’s a simple idea – when the public donates to a charity through a Big Give campaign, it asks funders (philanthropists, foundations, government departments or corporates) to match that donation. So £50 from a member of the public becomes £100 for a good cause.

Big Give has supported more than 10,000 charities and has worked with some of the biggest names in UK philanthropy and charitable grant-making, which provide match funding, including DCMS, People’s Postcode Lottery, Candis Club Magazine, EQ Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Reed Foundation, The Waterloo Foundation, The Hospital Saturday Fund, The Childhood Trust and others including high-net-worth individuals such as Julia and Hans Rausing.

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