The challenge
The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is the world's leading scientific authority on cheetah research and conservation, operating across Africa, Europe, and North America. CCF has global credibility and decades of peer-reviewed research, but its grant revenue was concentrated in a small number of long-standing relationships. That left it exposed: a shift in a single funder's priorities could destabilize the research budget for an entire year. CCF needed a diversified grant pipeline across several jurisdictions, one that matched the scale and scientific standing of its work.
Our strategic approach
Elysian Trust conducted a full audit of CCF's existing funder relationships, grant history, and programmatic priorities to identify where strategic gaps existed and where new institutional funders were most likely to engage. We built a multi-jurisdiction outreach strategy targeting government science agencies, private conservation foundations, and international wildlife funds, with distinct narrative frameworks for each funder category. We coordinated submissions across UK government channels (DEFRA), US federal wildlife programs (Fish & Wildlife Service), and private foundation networks including the Baker Trust. Each proposal was tailored to the specific language, compliance requirements, and impact metrics that each funder used in their evaluation process.
Impact & results
CCF secured $986,000 across seven funding sources, including $777,000 from UK DEFRA, $105,000 from the Baker Trust, and $36,000 from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The engagement also gave CCF a repeatable pipeline it can keep developing on its own, which reduces its long-term dependence on any single type of funder and makes its annual budget more stable.