Philanthropy: one more way to pursue our Mission

Imagine a forest growing in the grounds of a hospital. With Healing Forest, Mini Big Forest makes it happen. It plants small, dense urban forests at healthcare and care facilities using the Miyawaki method: a rich mix of native species planted close together, so the forest grows quickly and becomes self-sustaining within a few years. Each site, ranging from 200 to 3,000 m², is designed with the people who will use it most: patients, families and care staff. Sensory and meditative spaces create a place of calm and healing. And every tree is planted by volunteers, making each project a shared, human adventure.

Where does our food come from? L’École comestible helps children find out. Founded in 2019 by journalist Camille Labro, it runs multi-year programmes in nursery and primary schools, following food and ecosystems from seed to compost. Through hands-on activities, children discover what they eat, where it grows and why it matters. The project we support takes learning out of the classroom and onto agroecological farms, where around 700 children from seven schools will meet the farmers who grow what ends up on their plates. A chance to connect them with the land and the people who feed them.

For more than 30 years, Surfrider Foundation Europe has been working to protect the Ocean, our coastlines and aquatic ecosystems. Backed by thousands of citizens and volunteers across Europe, the organisation takes practical action: raising awareness, collecting litter and analysing what it finds. Its citizen science programmes help build a clearer picture of where pollution comes from, and the data gathered in the field feeds into its prevention work and its advocacy with policymakers. Surfrider credits its expertise and research on marine litter with helping secure the EU's 2019 directive banning certain single-use plastics.