Funding

Fun­ding prin­ci­ples

Forms of fun­ding

Fun­ding cri­te­ria

Fun­ding con­cept

FAQ

Sub­mit fun­ding request

Funding principles

Somaha Foun­da­tion fol­lows the fol­lo­wing prin­ci­ples in all its acti­vi­ties.

Targeted funding

Diverse funding methods

Strict impact orientation

Partnerships

Needs-oriented support

Shared knowledge

Effectiveness and efficiency

Somaha Foun­da­tion sel­ects pro­jects and part­ner orga­niza­ti­ons in line with its the­mes and based on objec­tive and trans­pa­rent cri­te­ria. It sup­ports the sel­ec­ted pro­jects finan­ci­ally and accom­pa­nies them throug­hout the pro­ject.

Somaha Foun­da­tion uses four fun­ding methods to sup­port its acti­vi­ties: pro­ject fun­ding, pro­gram fun­ding, impact inves­t­ing, and ope­ra­tio­nal acti­vi­ties.

Emer­gency relief, capa­city deve­lo­p­ment and sha­ring, capa­city appli­ca­tion and imple­men­ta­tion, and com­mu­nity-buil­ding are the four tar­ge­ted impact types of Somaha Foun­da­tion.

Somaha Foun­da­tion part­ners with other orga­niza­ti­ons and insti­tu­ti­ons com­mit­ted to the same cau­ses to pur­sue its objec­ti­ves.

Somaha Foun­da­tion shares know­ledge and expe­ri­ence from other pro­jects with its part­ners, enables the use of sel­ec­ted sup­port ser­vices such as trai­ning or con­sul­ting, and encou­ra­ges the deve­lo­p­ment of net­works.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion is a cen­tral ele­ment of the Somaha Foundation’s acti­vi­ties. The foun­da­tion stri­ves to com­mu­ni­cate its objec­ti­ves, inte­rests, and acti­vi­ties trans­par­ently. It aims to raise awa­re­ness about posi­tive initia­ti­ves and col­la­bo­rate with part­ners to share know­ledge and make it acces­si­ble to the public.

Somaha Foun­da­tion aims to act where its sup­port pro­mi­ses a distinc­tive and high bene­fit — but also where this bene­fit is dif­fi­cult to mea­sure. The foun­da­tion does not see its role in sup­port­ing pro­jects for which there are suf­fi­ci­ent other fun­ding oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Forms of funding

Somaha Foun­da­tion pro­vi­des two forms of fun­ding to serve its pur­pose: multi-year part­ner­ships in all three the­mes and sup­port for indi­vi­dual pro­jects in the field of nature pro­tec­tion. It laun­ches multi-year part­ner­ships on its own initia­tive. When sup­port­ing indi­vi­dual pro­jects, prio­rity is given to young orga­niza­ti­ons with new, inno­va­tive ideas. Fun­ding requests for nature pro­tec­tion can only be sub­mit­ted online.

Institutional partnerships

In multi-year part­ner­ships, the foun­da­tion col­la­bo­ra­tes with and sup­ports pri­vate non-pro­fit insti­tu­ti­ons. Part­ner­ship agree­ments with insti­tu­ti­ons are deve­lo­ped and signed when­ever pos­si­ble.

Funding of individual projects

Pri­vate insti­tu­ti­ons and indi­vi­du­als may apply for fun­ding from the foun­da­tion to sup­port their indi­vi­dual pro­jects. The Board of Trus­tees is respon­si­ble for making the final decis­ion on sub­mit­ted appli­ca­ti­ons. Rejec­tion decis­i­ons do not have to be jus­ti­fied.

Funding methods and impact

Somaha Foun­da­tion sup­ports initia­ti­ves through four fun­ding methods: pro­ject fun­ding, pro­gram fun­ding, impact inves­t­ing, and own ope­ra­tio­nal acti­vi­ties. The tar­ge­ted impact types are emer­gency relief, capa­city deve­lo­p­ment and sha­ring, capa­city appli­ca­tion, and com­mu­nity-buil­ding. The Somaha tool­box ser­ves as a gui­de­line for the foundation’s fun­ding opti­ons. The figure shows how Somaha Foundation’s fun­ding is struc­tu­red in its three the­mes.

Toolbox_EN_2024_Website

Funding criteria

Somaha Foun­da­tion applies the fol­lo­wing cri­te­ria to sel­ect orga­niza­ti­ons and pro­jects for fun­ding.

Assessment criteria

Somaha Foun­da­tion applies fac­tual, uni­form cri­te­ria to assess recei­ved fun­ding requests and part­ner­ship pro­jects. The Board of Trus­tees and the Somaha office team use the Somaha fun­ding com­pass to assess pro­ject effec­ti­ve­ness and struc­ture, as well as pro­ject part­ners. This enables a trans­pa­rent eva­lua­tion of poten­tial pro­jects and faci­li­ta­tes com­pa­ri­sons bet­ween them.

Finan­cial loss, ass­essa­ble risk of (non-) suc­cess of the pro­ject, data trans­pa­rency in the fun­ding request and pro­ject

Rea­li­stic expec­ta­ti­ons regar­ding goals, sche­dule, staf­fing, resource use

Qua­lity of con­tent and struc­ture as well as com­ple­ten­ess and con­clu­si­ve­ness of the fun­ding request

Long-term, sca­lable approach; empower­ment of the tar­get group or local part­ner to become inde­pen­dent

Metho­do­lo­gi­cal, tech­ni­cal, and social skills, expe­ri­ence, team size, senio­rity

Clear, relia­ble, holi­stic, and timely com­mu­ni­ca­tion

Open­ness to pro­cess change, error cul­ture, con­ti­nuous lear­ning, ques-tio­ning of the sta­tus quo, for­ward-loo­king orga­niza­tion

Age of the orga­niza­tion, fail­ures, suc­ces­ses, repu­ta­tion, reco­gni­tion

Solu­tion approach and impact include for­ward-thin­king ele­ments, not copy­ing exis­ting pro­grams, ori­gi­na­lity

Con­sis­tency with one of the three the­mes of the foun­da­tion and its fun­ding stra­tegy

The pro­ject is sui­ta­ble to achieve its objec­ti­ves

Sub­sump­tion in the United Nati­ons Sus­tainable Deve­lo­p­ment Goals (SDGs), not (mainly) fun­ded by the public sec­tor, con­tex­tual need of the tar­get group, orga­niza­tion, com­mu­nity, clo­sing an exis­ting gap

Finan­cial, mate­rial, and human resour­ces are used pru­dently and in a goal-ori­en­ted man­ner; favorable cost/benefit ratio

Exclusion criteria

Not eli­gi­ble for fun­ding:

Pro­jects that are part of the core tasks of the public sec­tor.

Pro­jects in a com­mer­cial con­text

Con­fe­ren­ces, con­gres­ses, sym­po­sia

Pro­duc­tion of prin­ted mate­rial

Coverage of defi­cits in pro­jects alre­ady imple­men­ted

Indi­vi­du­als

Insti­tu­tio­nal part­ner­ships: The foun­da­tion does not accept fun­ding requests for multi-year part­ner­ships.

Indi­vi­dual pro­jects: Curr­ently, the foun­da­tion accepts fun­ding requests for indi­vi­dual pro­jects exclu­si­vely in the theme of nature pro­tec­tion.

Funding concept

Loca­liza­tion is an important con­cept for Somaha Foundation’s acti­vity, mea­ning streng­thening local orga­niza­ti­ons and com­mu­ni­ties by incre­asing their inde­pen­dence and self-deter­mi­na­tion. Learn more about our under­stan­ding of loca­liza­tion.

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FAQ

This page ans­wers the most fre­quently asked ques­ti­ons about the Somaha fun­ding of pro­jects in the theme of nature pro­tec­tion.

Fun­ding prio­ri­ties

Sub­mit fun­ding request

Fun­ding decis­ion

Fun­ding part­ner­ships

Somaha Foun­da­tion enga­ges in the the­ma­tic areas of peo­ple in need, open and diverse society, and nature pro­tec­tion.

To pur­sue its objec­tive, Somaha Foun­da­tion pro­vi­des two forms of fun­ding:

Multi-year, insti­tu­tio­nal part­ner­ships that the foun­da­tion enters on its initia­tive with young and estab­lished orga­niza­ti­ons.

In the theme of nature pro­tec­tion, fun­ding requests can be sub­mit­ted for indi­vi­dual pro­jects. Here, the focus is pri­ma­rily on young orga­niza­ti­ons with new, inno­va­tive ideas.

Fun­ding requests may only be sub­mit­ted online.

The Board of Trus­tees makes the fun­ding decis­ion based on the review and recom­men­da­tion of the Somaha office team.

After sig­ning the part­ner­ship agree­ment, the part­ner­ship starts with the first fun­ding tran­che trans­fer­red to the account of the fun­ding part­ner.