Evolution Education Trust

What Evolution Education Trust does

Evolution Education Trust (EET) is a UK-registered grant-making charitable trust (charity number 1137520) founded in 2010 and headquartered in Cambridge. Its mission is to fund the application of evolutionary science to research, education, nature conservation, and human health, with cumulative grant disbursements exceeding £24M since inception. The trust operates as a funder rather than a product company, allocating capital to UK-based charities, postgraduate students, and early-career researchers through several structured programmes.

EET's core offerings are its EET Scholarships Programme, the EvoEd Challenge Fund (launched 2022 in partnership with the British Science Association), the Knowledge Exchange Studentship Programme with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, the Rewilding Innovation Fund with Rewilding Britain, and the EET Partner Network connecting universities and conservation organisations. A Community of Practice, stewarded with the British Science Association, brings funded project teams together for shared learning. There is no proprietary technology platform; the trust relies on standard SaaS tooling including Mailchimp for newsletters, Salesforce and FormAssembly for grant management, Google Analytics for web analytics, and Hyphen8 for database support.

EET's go-to-market is event- and outreach-driven: it reaches beneficiaries through its website (eetrust.org), newsletter communications, and Communities of Practice events. As a charitable trust it generates no commercial revenue; its operating capacity is funded by an undisclosed endowment or donor base and is translated directly into grant outflows. Customer segments are primarily UK-based charities and early-career researchers, with educational institutions as a secondary segment, and the geographic footprint now extends to global conservation initiatives spanning the UK, Galapagos, Cape Verde, and broader international networks.

Name

Evolution Education Trust

Legal name

Evolution Education Trust

Website

https://eetrust.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Evolution Education Trust is a UK-registered grant-making charity that has allocated over £24M since 2010 to fund evolutionary science research, education, nature conservation, and human health projects delivered through scholarships, challenge funds, and a Partner Network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Others, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: EET operates as a charitable trust that allocates funds to projects improving public understanding of the Theory of Evolution and applying it to nature conservation and human health. The organisation has allocated over £24M since 2010 to various projects and scholarship programmes.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

EET is a UK-based grant-making charitable trust that allocates funds to projects improving public understanding of the Theory of Evolution and applying it to nature conservation and human health. It supports postgraduate researchers through the EET Scholarships Programme, funds education and conservation projects through initiatives such as the EvoEd Challenge Fund, and connects universities and partner organisations through the EET Partner Network and Community of Practice. Since 2010, EET has allocated over £24M in grants.

Product overview

Evolution Education Trust (EET) is a UK-based registered charity (No. 1137520) that operates as a grant-making trust rather than a commercial product company. EET's offerings consist of funding programmes including the EET Scholarships Programme supporting postgraduate researchers, the EvoEd Challenge Fund for education projects, and the EET Partner Network connecting universities and research institutions. These programmes are delivered through a Community of Practice model that facilitates knowledge sharing among grant recipients. The organization has allocated over £24 million since 2010 to evolutionary science research, conservation, and education initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EET Scholarships Programme A scholarship programme supporting exceptional postgraduate students to gain research and fieldwork experience, networking, and science communication skills to build research and innovation careers in evolutionary science. Targets postgraduate and early-career researchers.
• EET Partner Network A network of university partners and research institutions collaborating on evolution-based research, biodiversity conservation, and education initiatives. For UK universities and conservation organisations working at the intersection of evolutionary science and education.
• EvoEd Challenge Fund A challenge fund supporting projects that improve evolution, biodiversity, and life-science education for less-advantaged pupils, delivered through a Community of Practice model in partnership with the British Science Association. For UK schools, universities, and educational organisations.
• Community of Practice (CoP) A shared learning and knowledge development programme that brings EvoEd Challenge Fund project teams together to explore techniques for improving knowledge exchange and deepening common purpose among EET Partner Network members.
• Grant Funding Services Funding allocation of over £24M since 2010 to projects improving public understanding of the Theory of Evolution and applying it to nature conservation and human health challenges. For UK-based charities and early-career researchers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Allocated over £24M since 2010 to evolution education and research projects

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered important and core.

• Rewilding BritainimportantStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021EET provided seed funding to launch the Rewilding Innovation Fund supporting innovative rewilding projects within the Rewilding Network. Fund addresses funding gaps for riskier projects with highest impact potential.
• British Science AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership to deliver a Community of Practice programme for EET Challenge Fund project teams. BSA provides wrap-around support for project leaders to reflect, exchange learnings, and harness collective experience to solve practical problems in nature-based education.
• Milner Centre for Evolution (University of Bath)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey research partner hosting multiple EET-funded PhD students and conducting world-leading evolutionary biology research. EET funds Milner PhD studentship programme that equips doctoral students with research and communication skills.
• Cambridge Conservation InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCI established the Knowledge Exchange Studentship Programme with EET seed funding, bringing Cambridge academics together with conservation practitioners to supervise interdisciplinary doctoral studentships addressing biodiversity conservation challenges.
• Galapagos Conservation TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGCT collaborates with EET on multiple projects including Co-Galapagos community-led conservation initiative and Galapagos nature-based education network. EET provides seed funding and post-doctoral research associate support.
• Royal Botanic Gardens, KewcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET funds Kew's Discovering the Fungal Tree of Life project to unlock genetic information from Kew's Fungarium collections, supporting methodology development and training the next generation of mycologists.
• Imperial College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET funds two PhD students in Prof. Vincent Savolainen's research team studying the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour, investigating biological foundations and function of sexual orientation across species.
• University College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET funds cancer research collaboration between UCL's Department of Infection and UCL Cancer Institute, investigating how immunity works against cancer and how cancer evolves to escape immunity.
• Whitley Fund for NatureimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET supports WFN's Winner Network Development Programme enabling peer-to-peer learning among 200+ conservation leaders across 80 countries. EET's seed funding helped WFN hit £2M/year fundraising target.
• WWF-UKimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET provided funding supporting the documentary 'David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet', contributing to education resources and youth engagement initiatives reaching millions globally.
• Milner Therapeutics InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET funding contributed to creation of the physical research institute on Cambridge Biomedical Campus, providing unique space for academic-industry collaboration. Institute brings together academics, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech start-ups.
• Natural History MuseumimportantStrategic or Co-development PartnerEET was among first funders supporting the Urban Nature Project, enabling museum to develop the initiative and fundraising campaign. Project transforms five acres of outdoor space into living galleries illustrating evolution of life.
• Manchester Metropolitan UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner university for EET Scholar Harry Gill's PhD research investigating human perception of canid motion and applied animal welfare applications.
• Villiers Park Educational TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvoEd Challenge Fund grantee delivering Inspire-Involve project exploring student-led coaching and micro-interventions for environmental science education in north-east England schools.
• Grow to KnowcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvoEd Challenge Fund grantee delivering Plants, People and Places project in North Kensington, using experiential garden-based learning to engage young people with nature and environmental science.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Leverhulme Trust: UK charitable foundation providing research grants and fellowships across sciences, social sciences and humanities. Comparable grant-making structure and UK academic focus.
• Royal Society: UK national academy of sciences operating grant programmes, fellowships and science education initiatives. Comparable in funding UK science research and engaging the public on scientific topics.
• Wellcome Trust: The UK's largest charitable foundation funding science and health research. Directly comparable as a UK-registered charity distributing grant funding to researchers and institutions, though at materially larger scale and broader thematic remit.
• British Science Association: UK charity promoting public engagement with science, and EET's existing Community of Practice partner. Comparable mission of advancing science literacy and engagement in the UK.
• Nuffield Foundation: UK charitable foundation funding education and social research with similar grant-making model. Comparable focus on research-to-policy translation in the UK.
• Gatsby Charitable Foundation: UK foundation funding science education and research, including plant science and neuroscience. Comparable as a UK grant-making trust with similar science-and-education focus.

Broad incumbents

• Kavli Foundation: International foundation funding scientific research including evolution and astrophysics through university partnerships. Comparable grant-making approach but broader science remit and global scale.
• John Templeton Foundation: Large international foundation funding research at the intersection of science, nature and human purpose. Comparable grant-making model for fundamental science questions, though at much larger global scale.
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Major US philanthropic organisation funding biomedical research and science education. Comparable in funding evolutionary biology research and training the next generation of scientists, though at much larger scale and US-focused.

Regional players

• Wellcome Leap: US-based programme associated with Wellcome funding bold research at scale. Adjacent to EET's mission in funding ambitious scientific research with potential for high impact, though US-focused and operationally distinct.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Evolution Education Trust