The grant is to be used for core funding, in support of Heal’s mission to create new spaces for nature across England. Heal’s long-term aim is to establish a site in every English county by 2050, with 10,000 hectares rewilded.

The charity is currently looking for a suitable first site in the south of England to acquire this year.

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Heal was launched in March 2020 as the UK’s first charity dedicated to being a rewilding landowner, to support nature recovery and take action on climate change and human wellbeing.

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Since then, it has raised over a quarter of a million pounds in donations, secured a £3 million loan from Direct Line Group, signed up over 230 volunteers, attracted 18 business partners, gained over 12,000 followers on social media and welcomed over a thousand people to webinars and live events. Olivia Colman, Cel Spellman, Caitlin Moran and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall have publicly supported Heal.

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Jan Stannard, Heal’s Chair of Trustees, said: “On behalf of Heal’s trustees and staff, I would like to say how honoured and delighted we are to have received this invaluable core funding support from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. This news will also mean a great deal to the wider Heal community, those volunteers, donors, business partners and advisors who have believed in us in these early years and helped us achieve so much in such a short time. This grant is a milestone in our journey, given the prestige of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the fact that fewer than one in ten applications are successful. We would particularly like to applaud the Foundation for its focus on funding charities’ day-to-day operations, which is both an enlightened and pragmatic approach.”