Protecting Southeast Asia Seas
The 30×30 Fund is a philanthropic initiative dedicated to protecting 30% of Southeast Asia’s marine areas by 2030. It mobilises resources to establish new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), expand the coverage of existing MPAs, and improve the effective management of marine conservation zones. In doing so, the Fund prioritises projects with high biodiversity value that are locally-led and equitable for coastal communities. The 30×30 Fund serves as a powerful platform for ocean conservation philanthropy and action in the region.
Challenge
With its ambitious mission, the 30×30 Fund faced a strategic challenge: how to translate its broad vision into measurable impact across a diverse portfolio of projects. The Fund needed a structured approach to clearly define and measure success and ensure each grantee’s work aligned with the overarching goal of protecting 30% of the seas. With multiple countries and stakeholders involved, the team also required a centralised system to track and report progress to its Board and partners. In short, the Fund required impact to be considered from the outset and embedded throughout the grant making process in order to achieve its objectives.
Solution
The 30×30 Fund partnered with hivve to develop a comprehensive impact strategy and implement a robust tracking system. hivve guided the Fund through a structured process.
- Market & Gap Analysis: Working alongside the fund’s experts, hivve conducted a comprehensive review of marine conservation funds across Southeast Asia. By identifying existing initiatives, best practices, and critical gaps, the analysis helped pinpoint priority intervention areas where the Fund could drive maximum impact.
- Fund design: hivve worked with the 30×30 team to consider impact management from the outset. The team worked specifically to design a competitive grant application process that ensured alignment with the Fund’s mission. Such as, incorporating impact in the Expression of Interest and Application form design and the assessment criteria of the applicants.
- Impact Framework: The team collaborated to define the Impact Framework for the Fund so that it could be communicated and shared with the Board and potential donors as a communication tool to explain the Fund’s approach to impact management and reporting.
- Impact Mapping & Indicator Design: hivve collaboratively developed a detailed impact map (Theory of Change) clearly connecting the Fund’s inputs to tangible outcomes, such as MPA creation and improved marine health. Five core impact indicators were defined, alongside numerous tailored indicators, to ensure consistent tracking across all projects could be supported. The indicators were cross referenced to industry benchmarks (Ocean Impact Navigator) to ensure broader alignment to the global agenda.
Results
- With a clearly defined mission and priority areas, stakeholders and donors understand exactly how the 30×30 Fund drives marine protection in Southeast Asia.
- 3 key objectives were formally identified and linked to five core impact indicators. Every funded project now will report on an indicator that contributes to these standardised measures, enabling apples-to-apples evaluation of progress toward the 30×30 goal.
- The new impact framework is fully integrated into the Fund’s operations. 100% of grant proposals and its expected project reports will align to the impact framework, ensuring alignment from the application stage through implementation.
- Armed with a clear impact framework and real-time data, the Fund is now positioned to drive even greater impact and confidently demonstrate its progress toward protecting 30% of Southeast Asia’s seas by 2030.
- Grantees can leverage any existing impact frameworks and align to the fund’s tailored metrics for additional metrics to share progress on.
- The project’s progress will be brought to life through hivve’s evidence-based approach, with grant partners incorporating video, photos as well as data to share with the Board
Kathlyn Tan, Rumah Foundation:
“Partnering with hivve brought structure and clarity to our mission. They helped us translate an ambitious vision into a measurable, actionable strategy across a diverse portfolio of marine conservation projects. From conducting a regional gap analysis to co-designing an impact-driven grantmaking process, hivve ensured that impact was embedded from the outset.
With their support, we developed a robust impact framework that now guides funding decisions and enables consistent tracking across all projects. Our Board, partners, and donors can now clearly see how each initiative contributes to protecting 30% of Southeast Asia’s seas by 2030. hivve’s expertise has strengthened our ability to deliver real, evidence-based results and communicate our impact with confidence.”