Regenera Deià Launches Its Revolving Solidarity Fund

In Deià, caring for the landscape means far more than preserving a beautiful view. It means keeping olive groves alive, restoring agricultural land, managing forests, reducing wildfire risk, and supporting the people who have cared for this territory for generations.

As we mark our first year of activity, Regenera Deià is taking an important new step with the launch of our Revolving Solidarity Fund, a tool designed to help small landowners access public grants for wildfire prevention and the restoration of agricultural landscapes.

The fund was created to solve a simple but critical problem: many public grants require landowners to pay the full cost of the work upfront before they can claim reimbursement. For those without sufficient liquidity, this requirement can turn an approved grant into an opportunity they simply cannot access.

We want to close that gap.

When Funding Exists but Cannot Be Used

In the Serra de Tramuntana, a range of grant programmes can finance essential work, including the restoration of traditional olive groves through pine removal, land clearance, and the rehabilitation of agricultural features.

These interventions deliver benefits that extend far beyond a single property. They help bring productive land back into use, encourage more active land stewardship, and reduce the continuous vegetation that allows wildfires to spread.

However, the structure of many grant schemes presents a major obstacle: the work must first be completed and paid for before reimbursement can be claimed.

For a small landowner, advancing several thousand euros can be impossible. As a result, some of the people with the deepest connection to the land, and the strongest commitment to its conservation, are excluded from the very support intended to help them.

"Too often, the people who most deserve these grants, and who have demonstrated the greatest commitment to the landscape over many years, are precisely those who cannot access them," says Joe Holles de Peyer, Director of Regenera Deià.

How the Revolving Solidarity Fund Works

The fund will provide the upfront capital needed to carry out projects that have been approved, or are expected to qualify, for public funding.

Once the work has been completed and the grant has been paid, the advanced capital returns to the fund and can be used to support another property and another restoration project.

That is why it is called a revolving fund. A single contribution does not generate impact just once. It can be reused repeatedly, multiplying its impact over time.

The model connects three key elements:

• Small landowners committed to caring for their land.

• Public funding available for landscape restoration.

• Philanthropic contributions that unlock access to those public grants.

For donors, this creates an especially effective model. Their contribution does not replace public funding. Instead, it enables it. Every euro donated can unlock additional public resources before returning to the fund to support another project.

"For philanthropists, contributing to a fund that unlocks additional public financing represents an especially effective and attractive model," says Holles de Peyer.

Much More Than Financial Support

The Revolving Solidarity Fund is not a standalone initiative. It builds upon the pilot landowner support service that Regenera Deià has developed during its first year, through which our team has already visited more than 30 properties across the municipality.

Every property faces different challenges. Some need help identifying suitable grants. Others require support with administrative procedures, project planning, or finding qualified contractors.

Our goal is to accompany landowners throughout the entire process, from identifying needs and funding opportunities to overseeing work on the ground.

Limited liquidity is a major barrier, but it is not the only one. Bureaucracy, complex application procedures, and the difficulty of finding specialist professionals can all prevent projects from moving forward. That is why we combine financing, technical guidance, and implementation support.

Restoring the Landscape Mosaic That Once Protected the Territory

This work forms part of a broader vision: restoring Deià's traditional agroforestry mosaic.

For centuries, the landscape consisted of a diverse mix of olive groves, orchards, pastureland, and actively managed woodland. Sheep grazing helped control vegetation, olive groves remained productive, farmland stayed open, and forests provided timber, fuel, and building materials.

The gradual abandonment of these traditional activities has encouraged the expansion of continuous woodland and the accumulation of combustible vegetation. At a time of increasing wildfire risk, restoring a diverse, productive, and actively managed landscape is also a strategy for protecting it.

Our aim is not to recreate the past, but to build on its lessons. We seek to combine traditional knowledge with new models of financing, collaboration, and local entrepreneurship.

A First Year of Turning Ideas into Action

The launch of the Revolving Solidarity Fund follows an exceptionally active first year.

Thanks to more than €300,000 in philanthropic contributions, Regenera Deià has helped establish three strategic firebreaks across the municipality and launched its landowner support service.

We have also developed projects that connect landscape regeneration with economic and cultural activity. These include Roig, a bitter aperitif made from locally sourced fruit, as well as a furniture collection created in collaboration with Amarar and the Manacor-based woodworking company Germans Adrover.

These initiatives sit alongside community dinners, a community garden, and support for the local theatre group.

Although these projects may appear diverse, they are all driven by the same belief: a living landscape depends on an active community and a local economy rooted in the territory.

An Investment That Can Be Used Again and Again

The Revolving Solidarity Fund represents a new approach to local philanthropy.

Rather than financing a single one-off intervention, contributions create a shared financial infrastructure. A fund that enables work to begin, unlocks public grants, and then recovers its capital so the process can start again.

A restored property can mean a recovered olive grove, reduced forest fuel loads, increased agricultural activity, employment for local professionals, and a landscape that is more resilient to wildfire.

When that same capital is then used to support another property, its impact continues to grow.

This is the principle that guides the fund: making one project possible today so that it can help finance another tomorrow.

Join the Revolving Solidarity Fund

We are looking for landowners, partners, and donors who share our commitment to caring for Deià through practical, long-term solutions that multiply their impact.

Anyone interested in applying for support, contributing to the fund, or learning more about how it works is warmly invited to get in touch with Regenera Deià.