Approach & Impact

We strongly believed that, as a donor,
supporting a cause meant more than funding projects.

We also accompanied our partners on their conservation journey, helping them develop the skills they needed and strengthening their ability to deliver.

We were always committed to doing what it took to achieve the desired outcome. We embraced our role with humility, always listening to the needs of the partners. This led to developing deep relationships and nurtured trust.

During the early years, we were involved in a few, very deep types of engagement, such as creating organisations where there was a gap, with our founder Luc leveraging his unique convening power. Over time, we broadened our types of engagement, putting more emphasis on solid project design and enabling extraordinary partner performance.

As from 2015, we became more focused on the sustainability of our impact. We made the conscious choice to go one step further in the scope and depth of our engagement and put greater emphasis on funding portfolios of projects – delivered by groups of partners working together (Outcome Action Plans). We also engaged in a wide range of activities to support our partners’ sustainability, focussing on Organisational Development, building partner capacities, helping them to raise funds and funding leadership development.

As planned by our founder, we ceased all grant-making at the end of 2022.

Read more about our approach: MAVA book and publication on our reflections as an engaged donor

LUC HOFFMANN

"We didn’t dictate to our partners what they should do, we tried to help them find their own way.
We were convinced that conservation projects would have lasting results only when they germinated and grew by their own strength."

Evaluating impact collaboratively

In our final year, we evaluated the degree to which our desired outcomes had been reached at three different levels: foundation, programmes and Outcome Action Plans.

Foundation

We evaluated what the foundation’s main impacts were over the years and what challenges remained.

See document

Programmes

Each of the five MAVA Programmes (Mediterranean Basin, West Africa, Switzerland, Sustainable Economy, Impact & Sustainability) assessed what difference the programmes made and how this was achieved. This was done based on the results of their respective Outcome Action Plans.

See all documents

Outcome Action Plans (OAPs)

Each of the 24 partnerships collectively evaluated and discussed the implementation and effectiveness of their strategies, the attainment of their outcomes in 2022 and their sustainability post MAVA. This led to 24 Outcome Action Plan Final Evaluations.

See all Mediterranean Basin OAPs West Africa OAPs Switzerland OAPs Sustainable Economy OAPs