Somerset Wildlife Trust is asking its supporters to help raise £40,000 to support its Wilder Youth movement and enable young people in Somerset to become conservation champions. The charity will be raising funds as part of the Big Give Green Match Fund, the UK’s biggest match-funding initiative. 

From midday on Thursday 18th April until Thursday 25th April, all online donations to Somerset Wildlife Trust’s campaign will be doubled — thanks to generous match-funding from supporters including the Reed Foundation, which has already pledged to donate £10,000 to the cause. 

The charity is asking for donations from the public to help it reach its fundraising target in just one week. If successful, it will use the funds to support the work of its Wilder Youth Officer, who has been working with communities across the county to foster practical skill development in young people, build youth-led community initiatives, and establish an active youth forum in Somerset.

Recent studies have shown that most young people lose their connection to nature after the age of ten, and once lost, it can take twenty years to recover. With a climate and nature emergency already declared, Somerset Wildlife Trust believes it is vital that young people are able to value, explore, and strengthen their connection to nature, for nature’s sake and for their own health and wellbeing. 

Siân Bentley, Wilder Youth Officer at Somerset Wildlife Trust, says: 
“It’s really important that young people are empowered to connect with nature in ways that are relevant and inspiring to them. One of the ways we want to achieve this is by establishing a youth forum in Somerset, which will enable young people between the ages of 12 and 24 to help shape the future for wildlife and nature by equipping them with the skills and experience they need to speak up about the environmental issues they care about. Alongside the forum, there are so many other exciting ways we can engage with Somerset’s young people and help them better connect to nature — and the funds we’re raising in this year’s Green Match Fund are absolutely critical if we want this work to continue.” 

You can support Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Wilder Youth movement and help the charity reach its fundraising target by visiting the Green Match Fund Project, Nature’s Hope: Young Hearts, Green Minds, and if you donate between Thursday 18th April and Thursday 25th April, every pound you donate will be matched.