BEF has redefined the relationship between grantor and grantee. We work closely with our partners over at least 10 years to support positive restoration outcomes.
Most conventional grants provide one to two years of funding. While this short-term funding promotes the completion of individual projects, it can discourage both a strategic, watershed-scale approach to restoration, and rigorous, sustained monitoring.
BEF employs a comprehensive 10-year Model Watershed approach that provides longer term funding to support watershed-scale planning, strategy development, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of restoration actions taken, and organizational capacity.
Our longer-term strategy helps ensure that restoration actions can be adapted and improved based on measured results and that critical restoration needs are addressed at the timescales necessary to achieve substantial and lasting ecological improvements.
Another critical part of BEF’s Model Watershed program is that each initiative must demonstrate strong and meaningful community engagement. We’ve found that a community-based approach encourages more effective and longer lasting solutions to the restoration challenges that our partners face.
BEF believes it takes at least a decade to make a difference.
Our long-term funding strategy gives our partners more freedom to approach their work with a longer-term perspective, leading to more comprehensive and strategic action on the ground.