For decades now the Ghar Parau Foundation (GPF) has provided financial support to caving expeditions that leave the UK to explore caves throughout the rest of the world. The track record of these expeditions is well known and the criteria which GPF applies when deciding to award a grant are simple.
For an even longer period of time, the Mount Everest Foundation (MEF) has supported UK mountaineering expeditions to the mountainous regions of the world, again with an impressive success rate. The criteria the MEF uses to judge an applicant are as follows:
Expeditions funded by the MEF must:
- Take place in mountain regions.
- Have exploration (the acquisition of new knowledge) as their main purpose.
- Normally the majority of its members are from the UK or New Zealand.
On occasion, a caving expedition can meet the criteria needed to apply to the MEF which include exploration, education, and research of mountainous areas of the world. In a normal year, several caving expeditions receive MEF support. The MEF committee asks the GPF committee to review the applications to ensure they are worthy of support.
As of autumn 2021, there is now a new protocol in place for caving expeditions to apply to the MEF and it is as follows:
- Caving expeditions apply directly to MEF using the dedicated MEF application form which can be found on the MEF website, putting GPF as a referee;
- MEF Secretary forwards the relevant applications to the GPF secretary for consideration by the GPF committee within a given time frame;
- GPF responds with a scoring for the expeditions within that time frame;
- MEF communicates its decision to the expedition leader directly;
Be aware that both committees meet twice annually spring and autumn but have different application deadlines. Please go to the two websites to ensure you don’t miss a deadline.
Howard Jones GPF Secretary
Thomas Richardson MEF Secretary