£171,000 raised in 6 weeks to make the Lower Chew Forest a reality

We are delighted that in under 6 weeks of fundraising, we have raised a phenomenal £171,955 to buy the land and establish the Lower Chew Forest.

This amazing achievement would not be possible without you. When we launched our campaign, the Lower Chew Forest was still just a hopeful dream. But thanks to you, we have absolutely smashed our original target, and can really hit the ground running with the South West’s biggest new woodland in a generation – a woodland for the people, by the people!

We want express our immense gratitude to the 1000+ generous individuals, organisations, and businesses who have supported our campaign. It’s truly been heart-warming to witness all the creative ways you’ve been fundraising to help make this project happen – from a charity cycle ride to a family bake sale! Whether you have donated, or helped us spread the word by sharing our campaign, thank you.

Here are some of the numbers from this campaign which we think really speak for themselves:

• 1059 of you showed up to support this project and our shared vision to create the biggest new woodland in the south west in a generation
• You smashed our target of £100,000! You have donated a colossal £120,613 to our Crowdfunder, plus an estimated £22,454.50 in gift aid.
• Beyond that we’ve received offline donations of £28,560. With Giftaid, this brings our campaign total to a staggering £171,955.
• We were thrilled to watch how local media ran with our campaign – over 10 different publications and radio shows helped us get the word out.
• The campaign took place over 39 days and it feels fitting that in that time, we planted 4,731 trees across our other sites through the help of our amazing volunteers and staff.

The Lower Chew Forest is on a scale like nothing we’ve ever done before; 420 acres, 100,000 trees, new wetland habitats, miles of hedgerow, and species-rich grassland. This is an enormous opportunity for climate action and nature recovery in our region and we are beyond excited to get started. You can find out more about this incredible project here.

We are now working relentlessly to get the purchase of Wick Farm across the line. Once we own the land we will be working hard to raise funds to plant the woodland.  Sign up to our mailing list and follow us on social media for very exciting updates!