Funding
Funding List from external sources
Currently Open
Community Impact Fund: New initiative designed to support local community groups and charities committed to making a positive difference with a grant scheme of up to £1,000 per project to encourage and empower local organisations working in the fields of environment, sustainability, creativity, and addressing local problems. Next deadline 30th January 2025.
National Centre for Resilience: Third Sector, Community, and Practice Project Fund: Up to £15k to support community groups, practitioners, and the third sector for collaborative projects promoting the use of local community-based approaches to enhance resilience. Next deadline 31st January 2025.
Foyle Foundation – Small Grants Scheme. Grants up to £10,000 to support small, grassroots and local charities currently delivering services to the young, vulnerable, elderly, disadvantaged or the general community. Deadline 31st January.
Volunteering Matters – Action Earth. 132 grants of up to £250 to support environmental projects that help urban communities to respond to our nature and climate crises. Activities should emphasise local nature enrichment and biodiversity improvements. Projects must be complete before 31st January 2025.
Sustrans – Love Your Network. Funding will take the form of equipment and training bundles of up to £1,000 in value rather than money. Supports communities living near the National Cycle Network to help maintain, improve, and enhance the spaces along local paths, as well as supporting wildlife conservation. Deadline 5th February
Royal Countryside Fund’s New UK-Wide Grant Programme: Grants of up to £25,000 over a period of 24 months to deliver activities along the themes of: keeping young people in the countryside, powering up rural communities, increasing environmental sustainability, building emergency resilience in rural areas. Deadline 21st February.
SUEZ Communities Fund for Scotland. Grants between £3,000 and £25,000 distributed through the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund. Through the SUEZ Communities Fund for Scotland, £200,000 is available annually for Land Reclamation, Public Amenities, Biodiversity, and Historic Buildings, Structures or Sites projects. Deadline 26th February.
The Naturesave Trust. Supports environmental projects across the UK with focus on small projects for charities, social enterprises and grassroots community Grants up to £5,000. Deadline 27th February.
SafeDeposits Scotland Community Fund. Grants of up to £5,000 are available to groups and organisations across Scotland to deliver a variety of projects and activities that benefit local communities. Deadline 28th February.
Cycling UK – Cycle Access Fund. The fund supports those least likely to have access to a bike and provides capital grants to organisations through four different funding strands: Individual Bike Ownership, Shared Use, Recycle, Repair. It allows a wide range of organisations to apply and provides a variety. of opportunities for individuals to benefit from the fund. There is no limit to the number of strands organisations can apply to. Deadline March 2025 or when all funds allocated.
Matthew Good Foundation – Grants for Good Fund. The Fund will share £15,000 between five shortlisted projects from small charities, non-profit groups and social entrepreneurs who are passionate about making a difference for people, their communities, and the environment. Next deadline is 15th March.
Workplace Charging Scheme for state-funded education institutions. Grant for eligible state-funded education institutes to provide support towards the costs of the purchase, installation and infrastructure of electric vehicle chargepoints. Deadline 31st March.
The Mushroom Trust. Provides donations up to £5,000 or more for projects protecting and enhancing green spaces in and around Edinburgh, Scotland and beyond. In particular they wish to support projects that enhance the public’s enjoyment and appreciation of green spaces including the horticultural and aesthetic enhancement of green spaces. Deadline 31st March.
National Lottery Community Fund – Climate Action Fund – Our Shared Future. Grants of £500,000 to £1.5 million over three to five years are available to local not-for-profit groups and partnerships for community-driven projects. They want to reach people who are new to climate action by funding other types of organisations too. Applications open until at least Spring 2025, but there is a plan to close applications after this. The final deadline will be announced nearer the time. Open until spring 2025.
Woodland Trust – Free trees for schools and communities. They make two deliveries a year, with the next pack to be delivered by November 2025. Next Deadline August 2025.
Benefact Group – Movement for Good Awards. Nominate a charity to be entered into a £1000 draw. In December, 120 charities will receive a £1,000 grant, spread across 12 days. Deadline to be included for current draw: 19th December 2025.
Ongoing
The Swire Charitable Trust. awards grants via three funding programmes: Opportunity, Environment and Heritage. There is no maximum or minimum grant size and they may award more or less than you applied for. Ongoing.
The Fore’s Funding Programme. offers unrestricted grants of up to £30,000 spread over one to three years to small charities across the UK that are making a big impact and who want to significantly grow, strengthen, become more efficient or resilient. Ongoing.
Tree Council – Network Rail Community Tree Planting Fund. Grants from £2,500 to over £15,000 for community groups, charities and other organisations to support tree-planting projects. Ongoing.
Tree Council – Orchards for Schools. Schools can register for our Orchards for Schools grant and to receive their orchard and/ or hedgerow pack, an engaging set of supporting resources and training, designed by experts and teachers,
that are linked to the national curriculum. Ongoing
The National Lottery Community Land Ownership Fund. Grants between £2,500 and £1 million for urban and rural communities
to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and
management of land, land assets, and buildings. Community-led organisations across Scotland can apply for funding to take ownership of land and buildings that matter to them. Ongoing.
National Lottery – community Action Fund. Funding from £20,000 to £250,000 for up to 5 years for projects that will help people connect more with each other. They are looking for projects that achieve at least two of these outcomes: build positive relationships, support people’s health or wellbeing, help people improve their access and connection to nature, make a positive difference to the environment. Ongoing.
Scotland’s Heat Network Fund. Capital grants to businesses and organisations in the public, private and third sectors to develop heat network projects. It aims to support the roll-out of zero emission district heat networks and communal heating systems. Ongoing.
Material Focus – Electricals Recycling Fund. Grants up to £100,000 for projects that aim to grow or improve existing household waste and recycling collection services, and up to £50,000 for projects that aim to innovate or test new approaches to collect electricals for reuse and recycling. Ongoing.
AlpKit Foundation: £50 – £500: Support grass-roots direct action projects inc. participation, education conservation and protection of natural environment, and health & wellbeing. Ongoing.
B&Q Community Re-Use: Good causes can register through the Neighbourly platform, selecting their local store and the items they’re interested in receiving. Ongoing.
The Orcome Trust: average grant around £3k, based in Midlothian and looking to fund locally. Ongoing
The Ian Findlay Path Fund: Funds improvement of local path networks to support active travel an attractive option for all users. £10,000 to £100,000 available, required match funding. 100% of design costs can be covered. Ongoing.
Aviva Community Fund. The Aviva Community Fund supports projects that are fighting climate change and building stronger, more resilient communities across the UK and are investing in Climate Action and Financial Wellbeing. Ongoing.
Community Learning Exchange, Scottish Community Alliance. Small pots of funding up to £1000 to build levels of mutual support across the Community Sector through peer to peer learning- the best way to test and develop new ideas is to learn from people already on the journey themselves! Ongoing.
The HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust. Small Grants of £1-2k to charities which focus on the conservation of wildlife and the environment. Ongoing.
Plants For A Future. Awards between £500 and £2,500 to help new food forest projects get started. Ongoing.
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Grants from £30,000 for organisation’s core or project costs, including staff salaries and overheads. Aimed at organisations improving our natural world, secure a fairer future, and strengthen the bonds in communities in the UK. Ongoing.
National Lottery programmes: Several funds available for Scotland or UK-wide, such as Awards for All Scotland, Young Start, Scottish Land Fund and more. Focus and amount will depend on the specific fund, but can range from £300 to £100,000. Various ongoing.
The Cruach Trust. The Cruach Trust is a small Scottish charity, which likes to make a difference with its donations. The Trust provides financial support for the natural environment including gardens, and for community and music-related organisations throughout the United Kingdom. Ongoing.
Currently Closed
UK Community Tree Planting Grants. International Tree Foundation provides financial support for community tree planting projects, equivalent to £1.95 per tree. In addition, they provide expert consultation, advice for projects that need it, and small maintenance grants to cover tree care in the first two years after planting. Open Summer-December.
Plugged-in communities grant fund. The plugged-in communities grant fund can cover 100% of costs, up to £75,000, to replace a community transport vehicle with a zero-emission alternative, to support community trips and services. Round 3 is still open for applications, however all funding has now been offered and any new eligible applications will be added to the waitlist.
Electric Vehicle Chargepoint and Infrastructure Grant for Landlords.
The Uk Government has available funding to install electric vehicle
chargepoints as a landlord, social housing provider or property factor. Currently closed, but you can note interest.
People’s Postcode Trust.
Between £500 and £25k to support projects in several areas including supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality, improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency, improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors. 2025 rounds will be shared in February.
Rewilding Challenge Fund Rewilding Challenge Fund is a £100,000 funding opportunity awarded by Rewilding Britain to one large-scale rewilding project every year, which shows the maximum potential to work with others to scale up rewilding on land and/or at sea. Next round will open in 2025.
Tree Council – Branching Out. Branching Out provides grants ranging from £250 to £2,500 in value to community groups, schools, small registered charities, and Tree Warden Networks – with a quicker decision for those seeking funding below £500. Currently Closed.
Local School Nature Grants – Learning Through Landscapes Small grants for outdoor learning in schools. Includes funding for outdoor equipment plus training for staff. The grant fund has two elements – £500 of outdoor equipment chosen from a catalogue of over 100 items, and an outdoor learning training course for your staff. Currently Closed.
Fat Beehive Foundation. Grants up to £2500 for websites and digital products to small UK charities focused on environmental protection or climate change mitigation. Currently closed.
