Our charity

ecoACTIVE is a small charity based in East London that has been working with schools and communities for the past 18 years. We teach children about sustainability and support them to make a difference; we build children’s confidence and well-being through forest school and support local groups to run community gardens. We focus our work in areas of high deprivation, and target disadvantaged groups in Hackney and surrounding boroughs, including those who are typically under-represented in environmental activities (e.g. those living in social housing, members of black and minority ethnic groups).

During lockdown, the ecoACTIVE team, many of whom are now furloughed, have been working hard to create online learning activities and resources, and preparing for when it is safe to teach face-to-face again. Unfortunately the charity has had a large cut to existing funding that will impact us now and when we reopen fully. 

Can you donate to help us survive this immensely challenging crisis?  

Every penny of your donation goes to our projects, to allow us to continue our work. Every donation you make, whatever size, will make a huge difference to our beneficiaries.

Your valuable donations will:

• enable us to continue to deliver our vital work of helping young people and communities connect with nature and learn about their local wildlife.  
• empower disenfranchised groups, giving them a voice and helping them become change agents, for a healthier planet and better future for all.
• help us share our new sustainability sessions with young people across London, first remotely, and then in a face-to-face capacity once we are safe to return to classrooms.  
• help us continue to support Hackney and Newham community gardens.  We are assisting residents to make physical changes to their gardens and supporting them to learn new skills.  When restrictions are lifted, they will be reaching out to their wider communities, providing nature and food growing activities for community members who have felt very isolated over the past few months.
• allow us to offer training to teachers, to help them gain confidence in teaching pupils outdoors in green spaces (where risks of transmitting COVID-19 are reduced).  

Our work

Our mission is ‘to create resilient, empowered communities, acting to sustain our world’. We deliver around 400 workshops per year, providing fun, hands-on activities for children, families, and adults.  Our current projects include…

Forest school programmes to help disadvantaged children connect with nature and increase their social skills, motivation, and confidence as well as emotional wellbeing.  "Forest School provided a huge incentive for this pupil throughout the rest of the school week and was the only part of school he cited as enjoying. It had a huge positive impact on his mood and emotional wellbeing and gave him an outdoor outlet he otherwise has no access to." (Feedback from a pupil's mentor)

Community Garden project which supports people living in flats to develop the skills and confidence needed to set up and run community gardens in Hackney and Newham, giving them much needed access to green spaces and building community cohesion and resilience.

Sustainability sessions which help educate and empower children and young people to understand the science of climate change and become change agents to take actions for their future.

Assessing our impact and working to help our community is immensely important to us. For more information on some of our past and current projects, as an indication of what your donation will go towards, please see our impact pages.

We are asking for your support to help us survive Covid-19 and beyond.  As a UK registered charity, there are no platform fees being incurred at the present time, so that every penny of your donation goes to our projects, to allow us to continue our work. Every donation you make, whatever size, really will make a huge difference to our beneficiaries.

Thank you so much for your support during this difficult time, 

The ecoACTIVE Team