Impact UK: Empowering earth’s allies

Watching an orangutan cling to the last tree in a clear-cut forest, Jessica Sweidan felt something shift. What began as small acts of giving—a few hundred dollars here, a few thousand there—grew into Synchronicity Earth, a charity devoted to protecting biodiversity and empowering grassroots conservationists across the globe.

The Spark

My husband Adam and I met at college, and soon after we graduated, he convinced me to quit my job so we could start a foundation together. We gave small amounts and were inspired by people we met or stories we read in newspapers.

Then, years later, we saw a documentary showing an orangutan clinging to the last tree in a clear-cut forest as bulldozers approached. I had what I can only describe as an epiphany, I felt out-of-body and started pacing. I couldn’t accept that this was the best we could do. It felt like a total system breakdown. I said to Adam, ‘We have to do something about this.’

The Choice

We had some funds, but we knew we couldn’t do this alone, we needed to bring other people with us. So, we worked with New Philanthropy Capital to ask: how could we build an organisation to match our vision, encourage others to join us and be of service to the philanthropy community by removing the cost and complexity of environmental giving?

So we decided to create Synchronicity Earth, imbuing it with all the lessons we had learnt from our small-scale, relational trust-based giving, cross-sectoral approach from the previous fifteen years.

Related philanthropic funds would cover core operational costs, enabling us to create a platform that made it easier for other funders to reach grassroots conservation groups.

We began by mapping philanthropic flows in environmental funding—looking for the gaps. Where were the areas of biodiversity most in need yet least supported? First, we created four portfolios: freshwater, species, oceans and forest. Then came the research. With that we progressed to Asian Species, Amphibians, Congo Basin, High and Deep Seas and Freshwater Biodiversity.

Adam and I brought different strengths. He brought financial design and longterm sustainability thinking – how to build annuity income and avoid the hamster wheel pressure of finding core support. I brought the creative, relational, front-of-house side—telling stories, engaging people emotionally.

The Impact

Impact in biodiversity work is complex—it’s a long game. The High Seas Treaty is a clear example. We were early funders of the High Seas Alliance, supporting the legal and scientific groundwork for protecting areas beyond national jurisdiction. Years later, it helped lead to the global treaty—an extraordinary collective success.

We now support more than 140 partners worldwide, and many of our successes come from the way we support them: multi-year, unrestricted funding and building regional networks of collaboration. We seek the best and most effective organisations, and for me, it’s rewarding to see is how many of them are women-led.