DISCOVER OUR PROGRAMMES
Environment
Building a clean energy future, maintaining the health of the oceans and stopping the illegal trade in wildlife.
Grants in 2017:
43 grants totalling
USD 42.21 million.
Find out more:
- Climate Change
- Marine Conservation
- Illegal Wildlife Trade
OUR VALUES
WATCH OUR LATEST VIDEO
In all our work we pursue rights-based approaches, gender equality and partnership with organisation we fund.
We support civil society as a pillar of democracy and justice and nurture innovation and visionary leadership within it. We value diversity both within Oak and among our partners; we seek to be inclusive, flexible and engage with different points of view. We believe that the best grant-making reflects both careful due diligence and the willingness to take risks.
Read more about our values here.
Katharina Samara-Wickrama is the new director for our Issues Affecting Women Programme. In this video she talks about the grant-making strategy of the programme.
CAREER
We are currently looking for a Programme Officer and a Programme Assistant for our Issues Affecting Women Programme. Find out more here.
OUR LATEST GRANTEE STORIES
It is getting harder to be a wildlife criminal
According to an article in the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong customs officers seized HKD 120 million (about USD 15 million) in illegal endangered wildlife products, including ivory and rhino horn, in the first eight months of 2017. Overall, during this period, customs officers confiscated 3,300 smuggled endangered species products, weighing a total of 49 tonnes.
To get through customs, smugglers had disguised pangolin scales as potato chips, concealed ivory in computer cases and even wrapped live turtles in socks before hiding them in luggage or in boxes.
Global awareness of the issue is growing. Civil society is responding to a rising wildlife trafficking industry estimated to be worth, globally, USD 23 billion a year. Wildlife crime laws are getting stronger. Domestic markets for ivory are closing and increased intelligence-led investigations are producing more convictions from Hanoi to Hong Kong to Harare. Indeed, heavier court sentences may even be causing the black market industry to adjust its tactics.
Our mission
Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global, social and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. With offices in Europe, Africa, India and North America, we make grants to organisations in approximately 40 countries worldwide.