Here at WildEast we believe region-wide nature recovery comes when you engage the whole of society.

This means collaboration across all stakeholders, from schools and councils,  landowners and businesses, to the church and the individual.

Natasha Ingram is from the Sicon Foundation, an environmental charity set up by a Suffolk-based tech business. She explains their ground-up approach.

While many companies do make contributions to offset their environmental impacts, Sicon is one of only a few who have gone through the process of creating a fully registered charity in order to have a more tangible impact. We feel this is something to be proud of, as we can be extremely hands on with the projects we choose to work with. Members of the Sicon office team can often be found outside joining in on sites that the Foundation is supporting.

Community and education are vital parts of the Foundations values. When we bring communities together to make a difference to their local spaces, we are also creating a sense of ownership. This in turn encourages long term care of these spaces, which again, we are happy to assist with. We love taking part in planting days where local people come and join us.

We bring along all the equipment required, as well as plenty of tea and cake to keep everyone going. We want to create an event that people will remember for years to come. Planting trees should be a time for celebration and pride at the commitment you are making to the future. After all, people who plant trees are optimists. We plant for the coming generations to enjoy and for the good of the planet in general.



Education is also something we strive to include in our projects. Every project we have worked on with young people has been such fun, and a wonderful opportunity to inspire future environmentalists into action. Studies have shown that children are increasingly growing more anxious about the challenges of climate change. It's important to help ease this anxiety by encouraging children to feel powerful rather than powerless when considering these kinds of global topics. We work with schools, youth groups, social clubs and everything in between. It's never too early to help foster a sense of wonder and passion about the world around us. After all, much of this work we do is for the future.

Something we discus at many of our planting days is the fact that one person can truly make a difference in the battle against climate change. While it may seem rather cliché, it can sometimes be a message that is lost in the enormity of the problem. Yes, larger agencies also need to drive reform, but the power of one person can also have a positive impact.

Every site we have the privilege of supporting started as the brainchild of one person. That project has often been cultivated by them. All we do is step in to help with the final pieces of the puzzle. It is these people, with these environmental passions, that make the Sicon Foundation possible. It is these people who are, slowly but surely, changing the world.

While at the moment we are a small operation with just one person working full time, we are keen to grow and see this as a long-term commitment. Our plans for the future include land ownership, school engagement and creating ties with many more community groups. If you feel like the Sicon Foundation would be a good fit for a project that you have in mind, please do get in touch via our website.

We are also extremely keen to share our knowledge with other businesses who feel the same way as we do. While setting up a charity may well seem like a daunting task, we have travelled this path and would be happy to share how we went about setting everything up.  

Since receiving our charity number we are now able to accept donations to help further our cause. We currently work exclusively in Suffolk. This means that your donation is going directly into making Suffolk greener, expanding forests & encouraging habitats. By making a donation, no matter how big or small, you are helping us make a valuable difference to our environment. 100% of your donation goes towards Tree Planting Projects as Sicon Ltd funds all the overhead costs of running the Foundation.