Community Grants

Community Grants

This is an opportunity for community organisations who care about nature and want to make a difference to their local park or greenspace. The Connecting through Nature project has funding available to help your groups to improve a local greenspace for people and wildlife. Funding will enable a group to bring people together and develop ideas for the park by running activities, such as walks, litter picks or wildlife watching to support nature and improve resident's health and well-being. This could lead to further funding to work with the wider community to potentially develop ideas into a new design or plan for the green space to help secure longer term funding to implement these ideas.

Who Can Apply?

Applications will be considered from Sunderland based Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) groups, not for profit organisations and public and statutory providers. CICs can apply but must have three or more Directors that are not related.

Registered organisations must be up to date with governance requirements. VCSE groups must have a management committee, constitution and bank account with dual signatories. VCSE groups must adhere to accounting requirements in accordance with the Companies Act.

If your group is not already constituted and you are applying for funding to help you become constituted, please contact the Connecting Through Nature team for advice and support.

What can you apply for and how much?

During the development of ideas and the application process groups must get help and advice from the Connecting Through Nature team.

The aim of the grants is threefold:

A. To support the establishment of new greenspace-based groups, e.g 'friends of...' groups. These new groups will need to be supported by an existing organisation (as set out in 'who can apply') for the purpose of applying for the grant. The funding will be expected to cover costs such as:

Meeting costs (e.g. room hire, refreshments)
Events to encourage more people to join the group
Administrative costs of creating the group and becoming constituted

Expected maximum: £1,000

B. To encourage more local people to use the site/natural space and become engaged/ enjoy accessing nature, ideally leading to longer term engagement/involvement and volunteering. The funding may cover costs associated with the following:

Running events and activities
Running volunteer events
Training and equipment

Expected maximum: £2,500

C. To produce credible improvement proposals for the site with designs ready for investment. This should be a led and co-designed by the community. The funding may cover specialist training or specialist design services.

Maximum: £5,000

It is possible to apply for more than one element up to the maximum budget of £5000. Please state on the application form which aim your project is meeting.

More than one grant application can be made by an organisation, but the total of all grants cannot exceed the maximum budget of £5000.

What can you apply for?

Examples of what the funding can be used for:

Costs associated with providing activities e.g. hiring a walk leader or someone from an organisation to run specialiset activities (eg butterfly walks, yoga sessions)
Training for staff or volunteers to allow them to support or run activities
Administration costs associated with setting up a constituted group
Room hire
Equipment to make small scale improvements such as litter pickers and bags, spring bulbs, paint and brushes for repainting benches or hand tools such as loppers, saws, trowels etc
Event resources such craft materials or paper and pens
Light refreshments e.g. tea, coffee and biscuits
Safety equipment to support volunteers such goggles, gloves or first aid kit
Specialist support (e.g. Landscape Architects) to help create realistic improvement proposals, such as new footpaths, habitat creation or tree planting and enable the creation of suitable design drawings so that the ideas are "project ready" when funding is available

What cannot be funded includes the following:

Large items, classed as capital costs for the park or greenspace such as benches, gates, bins or signs
Landscaping work such as planting trees, building footpaths, fencing or digging a pond
Existing staff salaries
Power tools such as chainsaws or brushcutters

Applications should include:

Information about the greenspace or park where the funding will be spent. This includes a concise description of the area including facilities, habitats or planting, its overall condition, how the park is used and by whom. This helps to build up a good understanding about the park and the need for funding.

Set out your initial ideas about how the space might be improved, for example you would like more trees, wetlands, a community garden, benches, wildflowers or bins
Explain clearly what you want to do with the funding, for example if you want to organise some activities to speak to and involve other residents about ideas for the greenspace
Identify how you will promote your activity and involve other residents to get a wide range of people involved in the greenspace and help to take ideas forward
What your organisation has done in the greenspace already, or within the local community
Describe how you have worked with the Connecting Through Nature Team to develop your proposal and application
Set out who you have contacted to gain permission and confirmed landownership information

All applications will be presented to the Connecting Through Nature Steering Group who will assess the applications and make the final decision.

For more information and a copy of the application form please complete the Connecting Through Nature Contact form below.

Once you have completed the contact form, the Connecting Through Nature team will be able to meet with you to discuss your project, provide advice and guidance and help you with the application process.

There will multiple opportunities to apply for a Community Grant.