Through a bottom-up, community-led approach Love The Oceans supports research and education programs on the preservation of marine life in Mozambique.

Since 2019 Love The Oceans have been using our donated paddleboards as self-propelled research vessels for their marine conservation research and education program.

To celebrate this partnership, in 2023 we launched our very first limited-edition board, with 10% of all profits of the sale of these boards going toward funding their important work in Mozambique.

The Wanderlust Women is an initiative born out of the need to normalise Muslim women exploring and being visible in the great outdoors!

They are a hiking and adventure group that provides like-minded women with the space, knowledge, and skills to traverse green and blue spaces with confidence.

Move For Mental Health is an initiative empowering people to move, get outside and explore to help boost mental wellbeing and reduce the symptoms of mental illness.

Over the years Red has supported founder, Kylianne Farrell, to help grow the Move For Mental Health message in Australia.

SUP Bristol started back in 2014 with a mission to bring adventure to the heart of the city, for everyone. Since then, founders Kate and Tim have worked hard to break down barriers in paddle sports, improve safety, and look after the rivers we all love. Over the year they have worked with marginalised communities, running litter clean ups all while educating around on water safety. 

In 2024, to mark their 10th anniversary the team is aiming to get at least 10 community groups onto the water who might not ordinarily have access to the water or have the financial means to do so. 

To reach this goal, they have launched their Paddle It Forward initiative. This ring-fenced funding will provide opportunities for their chosen community groups and the Red Foundation has funded £1000.00 towards the Paddle It Forward sessions this year. 

Working initially in Cumbria with the potential to roll out using their relationships with existing groups and partners cold water experts Gilly McArthur and Vikki McCreadie will be helping men who work in the Blue Light services in the region to better understand their mental health and challenges through learning to experience the cold water. 

Cold Water Swim Coaches Vicki and Gilly will lead the sessions and the concept, part funded by the Red Foundation.  

Everybody Outdoors is working to drive plus size inclusivity in the outdoors by working for a better representation of plus size bodies and providing online and physical spaces for people to get more confidence and skills in the outdoors. 

This year the team are working with qualified outdoor swim instructors from within the EBO community to offer their first introduction to outdoor swimming sessions. For plus size people, there are often a lot of challenges and barriers for people accessing training opportunities such as these - people worry about feeling comfortable in their bodies, about judgement from others, and often lack confidence in their abilities. By making these swimming events exclusively for plus size space, they hope that these courses will be more accessible to the plus sized community and remove a lot of these barriers. The sessions will be partly funded by the Red Foundation with £1000.00 going towards funding bursary places and loaning of kit.  

The Black Tri Tribe is a unique triathlon club with an emphasis on introducing black individuals to the sport of triathlon. Starting with the core disciplines of swimming, cycling, and walking, their goal is to increase access and inclusivity to triathlon by encouraging entry level participation. 

The foundation has contributed £1000.00 towards its events program. Founder, Kelly Smith, has some exciting plans for the program in 2024 and shared how this financial support will help… 

“The support from the Red Foundation empowers us to break barriers and encourage more of our tribe to 'Try a Ting’ and continue our stride towards making triathlons an inclusive sport in the UK. This contribution significantly eases our operational challenges, allowing us to direct our energies towards programmatic advancements and the enhancement of our events program. It is not only a financial boost but also an immense encouragement to our team.”  

DCRS (Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support) is a charity that has supported Asylum seekers in the Devon and Cornwall region for over 20 years. They take a holistic view of the human and work to provide advocacy and casework through people's asylum process whilst trying to elevate social isolation through their well-being program. The program highlights the benefit of immersing ourselves in green and blue spaces available within the region. The team themselves are sharing the privilege of within nature and the experience the natural world together can transcend the barriers of language and culture.

The Red Foundation has supported the program with up to £450 worth of kit and performance clothing. 

What started as a hiking and adventure group for Muslim women has now grown into a powerful community group championing more Muslim women to enjoy a wide variety of activities in the outdoors. Their goal has always been to normalise Muslim women exploring the outdoors, and to make women feel confident when they are outdoors. This year founder Amira’s goal is to take this a step further and increase diversity in the leadership space to create more role models and instructors from underrepresented communities – the goal is to have wanderlust women mentors all over the region.

For 2024 we have offered £1500 to work towards this goal. The Wanderlust Women will be inviting a group of 10-15 women to join a special event in September. The event will act as part of an application process to assess the participants as potential future leaders and mentors.  

The Foundation would then look to further this support by funding up to 3 women to go on to do their open-water swimming coaching qualification.