What companies and foundations fund the Just Stop Oil campaign?
Executive summary
Just Stop Oil’s funding picture is dominated in public reporting by a U.S.-based philanthropic vehicle called the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), which provided early “critical seed” and ongoing support alongside small public donations; reporting names wealthy individual donors connected to CEF — most prominently Aileen Getty and entertainment figures such as Adam McKay — while the group also says it now relies largely on small public gifts [1] [2] [3] [4]. No public source in the provided reporting gives a complete, itemised list of every corporate or foundation donor to Just Stop Oil, and the group’s own materials emphasise a mix of CEF grants and grassroots donations rather than corporate sponsorship [1] [2] [5].
1. The Climate Emergency Fund: the single most-cited institutional backer
Reporting across outlets and Just Stop Oil’s FAQs consistently identify the Climate Emergency Fund as the primary institutional funder, providing recruitment, training and capacity-building support and described as the group’s “largest backer” and source of critical seed funding in 2022–23 [1] [6] [2]. The Guardian and CEF’s own material describe CEF operating like venture capital for disruptive climate groups, making sizeable $50k–$100k grants to scale civil resistance tactics, and explicitly naming Just Stop Oil as one of its grantees [3] [7].
2. Wealthy individuals and celebrity donors tied to CEF
CEF itself has been publicly linked to a small number of wealthy patrons and celebrity donors: Aileen Getty is named as the founding donor who provided the initial large gift, and public reporting and CEF statements also cite donations from film-industry figures such as Adam McKay and donors like Abigail Disney; press coverage and InfluenceWatch enumerate these connections when describing who funds CEF [3] [8] [9]. The Guardian reported a $500,000 start gift from Getty and a $250,000 donation from Adam McKay to CEF in 2022, and CEF’s model and board composition have been focal points for critics and observers concerned about “outsourced” disruptive campaigning funded from the U.S. [3] [9].
3. Other named funders and notable departures
Beyond CEF and its donors, a small number of public figures and funders have been named in coverage: entertainment and film donors are repeatedly mentioned, and industrialist Dale Vince — who had given over £340,000 and later said he would stop funding — is explicitly cited in reporting about support and withdrawals [10] [11]. InfluenceWatch and other outlets also note that CEF itself is funded by “wealthy individuals and family foundations,” but they do not provide a complete list of those foundations in the sources provided [6] [8].
4. Small donors and the group’s stated funding mix
Just Stop Oil’s own updated FAQs and donation pages stress that the organisation is “largely backed by small donations from the public” while acknowledging that CEF “continues to contribute” and that CEF and specific donors provided critical early funding [2] [5]. Multiple news outlets echo that narrative: while institutional grants drew most media attention, the group points readers to CEF as a tax-deductible route for U.S. donors and insists grassroots giving underpins much of its ongoing activity [5] [4].
5. What can’t be confirmed from available reporting
Public reporting in the provided sources documents CEF’s central role and lists a handful of named wealthy donors, but none of the supplied materials contains a complete ledger of every company, foundation or individual donor to Just Stop Oil; corporate sponsorship beyond CEF-linked philanthropy is not substantiated in these sources, and the exact proportions of CEF versus grassroots funding over time are summarized rather than itemised [1] [2] [3]. Observers differ on the significance and influence of philanthropic backers — some characterise CEF’s role as essential seed finance for disruptive tactics, while critics frame U.S.-based celebrity funding as outsourcing contentious protest [3] [9].
Conclusion
The clearest, repeatedly corroborated answer is that Just Stop Oil’s primary institutional funder is the Climate Emergency Fund, which itself was seeded and sustained by wealthy individuals including Aileen Getty and high-profile entertainment donors such as Adam McKay and others; the group also highlights small public donations and has seen individual donors or funders (for example Dale Vince) give and later withdraw support [1] [3] [10] [2]. A full, audited list of every company, foundation or individual donor was not provided in the reporting available here, so claims beyond these documented links remain unverified in this dataset [1] [2].