The best environmental charities
Behind every forest left standing and every fishing fleet held to account is someone who stood up for it: the investigators gathering evidence, the communities defending their land and sea, and the conservationists working alongside them. It's brave, steady work, and it keeps the planet's wild places, and the people who depend on them, safer.
Four charities, each brilliant at a different part of the job.
Rather than a ranked list, we've picked a range of charities, so together they cover more than any one could alone.
WWF-UK
- Food & Finance
- Forest Protection
- Nature Recovery
WWF-UK was founded in 1961 as the World Wildlife Fund, by a group that included Sir Julian Huxley and Sir Peter Scott, who drew its famous panda logo. Today it's active in the UK and nearly 100 countries, protecting threatened species from tigers and elephants to penguins and polar bears. It works hand in hand with governments, businesses, Indigenous peoples and local communities. It thinks on the scale of the whole planet, which is exactly the scale nature needs.
Key stats
- Users of its toolkit for spotting environmental crime
- 30,000+
- Items of kit for new fire brigades in Brazil
- 1,500
- Native oysters returned to the Forth, with partners
- 10,000
- People who acted for its Prescription for Nature
- 168,000+
Source: WWF-UK Annual Report 2024-25
Why we've included them
WWF tackles the systems behind nature loss, working with governments and businesses so that food and finance work for nature, not against it. That change reaches further than any single reserve could.
Registered Charity: 1081247
Visit WWF-UK
Greenpeace Environmental Trust
- Investigative Journalism
- Scientific Research
- Education
Greenpeace Environmental Trust is the charity behind Greenpeace's research, investigations and education in the UK. It backs Unearthed, Greenpeace's award-winning journalism team, and its science unit at the University of Exeter. That work has followed illegal gold mining in the Amazon and built the case that big polluters should pay for the climate damage they cause. Greenpeace never takes money from governments or companies, so it runs on donations alone, and we love that independence.
Key stats
- Countries ratified the Global Ocean Treaty
- 60
- UK ocean sanctuaries set to ban bottom trawling
- 41
- Nautical miles sailed by its ships
- 45,500
- Views of one Unearthed video
- 1m+
Source: Greenpeace UK Impact Report 2025
Why we've included them
Greenpeace Environmental Trust anchors the four with evidence, funding the research, investigations and journalism behind Greenpeace's campaigns. Greenpeace takes no money from governments or companies, so its findings stay independent.
Registered Charity: 284934
Visit Greenpeace Environmental Trust- E
Environmental Justice Foundation
- Illegal Fishing
- Human Rights
- Climate Justice
The Environmental Justice Foundation was founded in 2000 by Steve Trent and Juliette Williams, who believe that protecting the natural world and defending human rights go hand in hand. Its filmed, field-based investigations have exposed illegal fishing and abuse at sea, and its country teams are staffed by people from those countries. It also trains journalists, fishers and Indigenous leaders to document environmental harm themselves. Handing people the tools to protect their own patch is justice in action.
Key stats
- Environmental defenders trained
- 786
- To document North Korean labour on fishing fleets
- 1st
- Small-scale fishers protected by Ghana's new law
- 200,000+
- Sea turtles rescued from nets in Ghana
- 50
Why we've included them
EJF puts people at the centre, defending the human right to a secure environment alongside the natural world itself. It works with the fishers, journalists and Indigenous communities on the front line of environmental harm.
Registered Charity: 1088128
Visit Environmental Justice Foundation 
Fauna & Flora
- Habitat Protection
- Species Recovery
- Local Partners
Fauna & Flora was founded in 1903, which makes it the world's first international wildlife conservation organisation. Sir David Attenborough, a member since the late 1950s, is one of its vice-presidents. It works closely with local conservation partners around the world, protecting habitats, saving species from extinction and supporting the livelihoods of people living closest to nature. Backing local people to look after their own wild places is what helps its work last.
Key stats
- Hectares of habitat conservation influenced
- 57m+
- In-country organisations it worked with
- 421
- People trained in conservation skills
- 5,000+
- Iguanas on an Anguilla islet, up from 33
- 300+
Source: Fauna & Flora Annual Report 2025
Why we've included them
Fauna & Flora keeps conservation in local hands, supporting partners on the ground to protect habitats and save species in 40 countries. It shows what nature protection looks like when the people closest to it lead the way.
Registered Charity: 1011102
Visit Fauna & Flora
EFour amazing environmental charities. Why choose just one?
Support all four with a one-off or monthly donation, split however you like. With Legacy, giving is simple and you're always in control.
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