About

School of fish – Cultura Creative RF / Alamy Stock Photo.

Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. But humanity stands at a crossroads.

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures driving this decline are intensifying.

Land and sea use change, exploitation of natural resources, climate change, pollution, and invasive species drive biodiversity loss. Human activity has significantly altered three-quarters of the Earth’s land and two-thirds of its marine environment, with a million animal and plant species now threatened with extinction, many within decades. And crucially, none of the 2020 UN global goals for protecting life on Earth and halting the degradation of land and oceans were met.

We still have time. The problems and solutions are known, but we must act now to repair the damage done – with scale and pace. Conserving the remaining pockets of wildlife-rich land is now no longer enough; degraded land and seas must be restored to bend the curve of biodiversity loss. We know that if barriers to restoration are halted, nature has a remarkable capacity to recover over time. Our efforts must be directed towards revitalising natural ecosystems and promoting robust species populations and habitats that will provide sustainable benefits for both nature and society, within the context of a changing climate and globalised economy.

Ecological restoration is a vision of hope for a brighter future. As a grantmaker, we are committed to playing our part in the global endeavour of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to create lasting change. We support remarkable organisations that are working tirelessly to achieve international targets and mitigate ecological breakdown. Our goal is to be a progressive and flexible grant-maker helping to create lasting change by supporting evidence-based, practical, and transformational solutions for ecological protection and restoration. With the ERF strategy and targets 2030 as our high-level framework, we will help to provide a prosperous, greener future for all.

“We are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damage to our planet”

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, General Assembly President

Lake and trees – Pascal Scholl, Unsplash.

Our approach

Ecological restoration takes resources, and organisations driving activities on the ground are often underfunded and face long-term financial insecurity.

Practitioners often face multiple barriers that keep them from maintaining or even scaling their projects. We work hard to identify the people and organisations best placed to make a difference. We help these practitioners make lasting, transformational change.

We want nature to be valued and cherished, which in turn will create local economic or cultural opportunities to enable long-lasting protection of these habitats and species. Therefore, we will support organisations protecting and restoring biodiversity in a variety of ways, whilst engaging local populations and promoting shared prosperity for both people and the environment.

We aim to align the Ecological Restoration Fund with international actions and intentions, including COP 15 targets and the ecosystem categories set out with the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

A note from our Chair & Founder

Daniel Hotz, Chair & Founder, ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION FUND

When I think of nature, I don’t just think of the ecosystems – the landscapes and species that we share the planet with – I think of the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we depend on, and the stability of our societies. Nature is not separate from us. It is us. And yet, the natural world is in crisis.

Ecosystems, as David Quammen writes, are like Persian carpets. Cut them into tiny squares, and you don’t get smaller carpets – you get scraps. Fragmented and fraying, these pieces can no longer function as a whole. Across the planet, forests are vanishing, soils are eroding, oceans are suffocating, and species are disappearing faster than at any point in recorded history. These are not isolated tragedies; they are signs that the very systems sustaining life are under threat. Pollution, climate change, unsustainable agriculture and industrial expansion are driving us toward collapse.

Yet there is hope.

We now know that when biodiversity is allowed to thrive, the benefits ripple outward. Healthy ecosystems are powerful allies in solving humanity’s most urgent challenges: clean water, food security, disease prevention, climate resilience, even peace and prosperity. In fact, restoring nature may be one of the most effective ways to build a more equitable, sustainable world.

At the Ecological Restoration Fund we believe that nature needs support and space to recover, regenerate, and thrive. However, our work goes beyond conservation, protection and regeneration: it’s also about building a future where people and wild nature coexist, and where communities lead the way in restoring the richness of life around them.

 

Our team

  • Trustees

    • Daniel Hotz – Chair and Founder

      After completing his masters degree in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, Daniel Hotz became increasingly interested in well-directed philanthropic funding as a means to provide the most flexible capital and support for civil society.

    • Dr. Sigrid Rausing – Trustee

      Founder of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, which supports human rights in repressive and transitional countries, and a range of other causes, including conservation.

    • Dr. Lisbet Rausing – Trustee

      Co-founder of Arcadia Fund. Lisbet did her BA at UC Berkeley and her PhD at Harvard University, where she was a lecturer and assistant professor in the history of science.

  • Team

    • Lenke Bálint – Executive Director

      Lenke supports the Chair and  Board of Trustees in strategic planning and governance and she is responsible for overseeing all of ERF’s grants, programmes and activities.

    • Olivia Couchman – Grants Director

      Olivia develops and manages individual grants, undertaking analyses and evaluations as well as planning and reporting on grants.

    • Will Steadman – Grants Director

      Will develops and manages individual grants, undertaking analyses and evaluations as well as planning and reporting on grants.

    • Mariela Dellagiovanna – Grants Officer

      Mariela coordinates the operations at ERF, including supporting the development of the grantmaking systems and processes.

    • Emma McIntosh – Advisor

      Emma supports ERF’s team with programme development and the implementation of ERF’s grant-making strategy. She is a conservation scientist with a particular interest in marine protection and restoration.

    • Olivia Eckersley – Communications

      Olivia oversees our communications, with a focus on updates on our grantee partners and their work. Olivia is also the Communications Officer at our sister organisation, the Sigrid Rausing Trust.

  • Daniel Hotz – Chair and Founder

    After completing his masters degree in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, Daniel Hotz became increasingly interested in well-directed philanthropic funding as a means to provide the most flexible capital and support for civil society.

    Recognising how underfunded environmental philanthropy is – representing less than 4% of the total giving from UK trusts and foundations – Daniel decided to create the ERF as a means to accelerate ongoing solutions to the current biodiversity and climate crisis.

  • Dr. Sigrid Rausing – Trustee

    Founder of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, which supports human rights in repressive and transitional countries, and a range of other causes, including conservation.

    She has won numerous awards for her philanthropy, and has served on several boards, including Charleston, the museum home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, and the Cultural Council of Lund University. She is a Council Member of the Royal College of Art, and Ambassador Council member of the Scholars at Risk Network. She is an Emeritus member of the International Board of Human Rights Watch and of the Advisory Board of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

    Sigrid is also the publisher of Granta Books, and the Editor of Granta Magazine. Sigrid has a PhD in Social Anthropology from University College London, which was followed by a 2-year Honorary Fellowship, and has published several books and articles.

    She has received Honorary Doctorates from University College London, the Open University and the University of Kent. She holds a Morrell Fellowship from the University of York, and is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and of St Antony’s College, Oxford. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

  • Dr. Lisbet Rausing – Trustee

    Co-founder of Arcadia Fund. Lisbet did her BA at UC Berkeley and her PhD at Harvard University, where she was a lecturer and assistant professor in the history of science.

    Lisbet also supports family companies such as Ecolean, a liquid food packaging company, and Ingleby Farms, a farming company.

    Outside boards and committees have included the Harvard Board of Overseers and Yad Hanadiv Advisory Committee. Lisbet also served on the Cambridge Conservation Initiative Advisory Board.

  • Lenke Bálint – Executive Director

    Lenke supports the Chair and  Board of Trustees in strategic planning and governance and she is responsible for overseeing all of ERF’s grants, programmes and activities.

    Lenke brings over 13 years of experience in developing and strengthening biodiversity conservation organisations in Eastern and Southern Europe, Central Asia, the Mediterranean, West Africa and the Pacific. She has most recently worked as Head of Partnership, Communities and Capacity Development at BirdLife International, leading several global programmes.

    Lenke has an Mphil in Conservation Leadership and an MSt in Social Innovation, both from the University of Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the Intergovernmental Science – Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) as well as a Kinship Conservation Fellow.

  • Olivia Couchman – Grants Director

    Olivia develops and manages individual grants, undertaking analyses and evaluations as well as planning and reporting on grants.

    She has over a decade of experience directing global grant-making and conservation capacity-building programmes. She has led the strategic development and delivery of the Conservation Leadership Programme – in partnership with Fauna & Flora, BirdLife International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society – and the EDGE of Existence Programme at the Zoological Society of London. Prior to this, Olivia earned an MSc from the University of Sussex and conducted conservation research across Central America and East Africa.

  • Will Steadman – Grants Director

    Will develops and manages individual grants, undertaking analyses and evaluations as well as planning and reporting on grants.

    He comes from a background in developing and implementing environmental funding programmes at foundations in the UK, including leading Esmee Fairbairn Foundation’s nature-friendly farming programme for a number of years. This was focused on supporting NGOs to deliver change at scale, alongside managing innovative collaborations and partnerships across the food system, for the benefit of nature, people and climate. He previously worked as a consultant in the philanthropy sector and in the music sector.

     

  • Mariela Dellagiovanna – Grants Officer

    Mariela coordinates the operations at ERF, including supporting the development of the grantmaking systems and processes.

    She has over 10 years of experience in programme management and administrative support in the non-profit and education sectors. Previously, Mariela worked at the Open Society Foundations as a programme operations staff, working on processing grants and optimising systems. Before moving to philanthropy, she worked in several NGOs across Ireland and Argentina and for University College Dublin.

    Mariela studied International Relations at Universidad del Salvador (Argentina).

  • Emma McIntosh – Advisor

    Emma supports ERF’s team with programme development and the implementation of ERF’s grant-making strategy. She is a conservation scientist with a particular interest in marine protection and restoration.

    Emma provides nature conservation, strategic planning and other advisory services to philanthropic and non-profit organizations, including ERF’s sister organisation Arcadia.

    Emma has a DPhil (PhD) in conservation science from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Advanced Science from the University of Sydney. She is a John Monash Scholar.

  • Olivia Eckersley – Communications

    Olivia oversees our communications, with a focus on updates on our grantee partners and their work. Olivia is also the Communications Officer at our sister organisation, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, where she has been since 2022.

    Previously she was an Account Manager at Edelman, working across a broad range of companies, organisations and charities. Here she also did media training, preparing senior spokespeople for both proactive media interviews and crisis management. Before communications, Olivia was a journalist for 10 years, working predominantly at ITN’s Channel 4 News as an Assistant News Editor on the foreign desk. She also had previous stints at the BBC, ITV news and CNBC. Olivia has also worked pro bono on media strategy for a grass roots Syrian charity.

    Olivia has a BA in Geography and Sociology from the University of Leeds, and an MA in Journalism from City University, London.