Community Funding Opportunities
Fund your Community Project
You may be eligible to apply for funding to help reach your goals. We've compiled a list of some of the current local and national funding opportunities to help your group support wildlife. Find out what funding opportunities are available below.
National Funding Opportunities
Funding opportunities available to community groups across the UK.
Alpkit Foundation
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: up to £500
Who can apply?
- Community groups
- Schools
- Not-for-profit organisations
What can they fund?
- Projects that champion education, participation, environment, diversity and health and encourage responsible outdoor activity
Deadline(s): no deadlines
Aviva Community Fund
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: up to £50,000
Who can apply?
- Charities or social enterprises (which includes community interest companies) with an annual income of less than £2,000,000
What can they fund?
- Climate Action: promoting healthy, thriving communities by preventing, preparing for a protecting against the impacts of climate change
- Financial Wellbeing: helping people take control of their wellbeing by giving them the tools to be more financially independent and ready for anything
Deadline(s): continuous rolling deadline
Grow Wild Community Project Funding
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: up to £2,000 + training
Who can apply?
- Community groups
- Youth groups
- Voluntary groups
What can they fund?
- Projects which bring people together through activities that connect their community and celebrate UK native wildflowers, plants and/or fungi
Deadline(s): Applications opening soon for 2024 Community Programme
Lush Charity Pot
Funding amount: from £100 up to £10,000
Who can apply?
- Grassroots groups who often struggle to find funding
What can they fund?
- Prioritise projects that create long-term change.
- Working in the areas of Animal Protection, Environment and Human Rights (including social justice, peace and equality).
Deadline(s): Open
Matthew Good Foundation
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: £15,000 shared between 5 shortlisted projects
Who can apply?
- Local charities
- Voluntary groups
- Social enterprises that have an average annual income of less than £50,000
What can they fund?
- Projects which make a positive difference to communities, people and the environment
Deadline(s): Quarterly application deadlines
National Lottery - Awards for All England
Location: England
Funding amount: £10,000
Who can apply?
- Voluntary and community organisations
- Constituted group or club
- Registered charity
- CIO's
- Not-for-profit company
- CIC's
- Schools
- Statutory body (inc. local authorities, town, parish, community council)
- Community benefit society.
What can they fund?
3 key objectives:
- Bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities
- Improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
- Enable more people to fulfil their potential by working to address issues at the earliest possible stage
Deadline(s): no deadlines
National Lottery Community Fund - Reaching Communities England
Location: England
Funding amount: £10,001 - £500,000
Who can apply?
- Voluntary and community organisations
- Registered, exempt or excepted charity
- CIO's
- Not-for-profit company limited by guarantee
- CIC's
- Schools
- Statutory body (including local authorities, town, parish, community council)
- Community benefit society
- Co-operative society
What can they fund?
Projects that can:
- Test new approaches to issues in the community
- Build strong relationships in and across communities
- Improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
- Help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage
Deadline(s): no deadlines
Naturesave Trust
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: up to £5,000
Who can apply?
- Charities
- Social enterprises
- Grassroots community organisations
What can they fund?
- Working with communities and organisations to protect wildlife and improve biodiversity
- Projects which specifically address the promotion and implementation of sustainable development, environmental and/or conservationist improvement
Deadline(s): The next funding window opens in January 2024.
Southall Trust
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: up to £5,000
Who can apply?
- Charities that show creativity and innovation in their work.
- Charities that promote social justice, inclusion and diversity.
- Charities that challenge structural inequalities and injustice.
- Charities making good use of volunteers.
- Charities that are engaged with their local community and show clear evidence of support from within it (e.g. through local giving, volunteering and/or partnerships).
What can they fund?
- Actions and activities that have a positive impact on the natural environment
Deadline(s): Open
Tesco Community Grants
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: up to £1,500
Who can apply?
- Schools
- Registered charities
- Not-for-profit organisations
What can they fund?
- Priority given to projects that provide food and support to young people
Deadline(s): no deadlines
The Tree Council - Branching Out Fund
Location: England
Funding amount: from £250 to £2,500
Who can apply?
- Community groups
- Small charities
- Schools
- Tennants/resident associations
What can they fund?
- Provide funding for tree & hedge planting projects
Deadline(s): 3rd December 2023
Woodland Trust - Free Trees for Schools and Communities
Location: United Kingdom
Funding amount: not specified
Who can apply?
- Schools across the UK, plus nurseries, colleges, universities and outdoor learning centres
- All kinds of different groups such as resident associations, sports clubs, parish councils, scouts, guides and many more
- You don’t need to belong to an official organisation
What can they fund?
- Schools: trees should be planted on either the school grounds, land the school has arranged regular access to or in an area that is publicly accessible
- Community Groups: trees should be planted on land which is accessible to the public
- You should also make sure that your local community is aware of your plans to plant and are happy for you to go ahead
Deadline(s): 2 deadlines per annum. The Woodland Trust is currently taking applications for tree packs to be delivered in March 2024. Applications are expected to close in January, or sooner depending on stock availability.
Local Funding Opportunities
Funding opportunities available to community groups within Surrey.
Community Foundation for Surrey
Location: Surrey
Funding amount: average grant is £6,000
Who can apply?
- Registered charities
- CIO
- Charitable Trusts
- Voluntary and community groups
- Faith groups, where the project clearly benefits the wider community
- Educational establishments for exceptional projects that fall outside statutory support
- Organisations with a potential national reach
- Community Benefit Societies with charitable status
- CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club)
- Not for profit organisations such as CICs
- Small and newly formed groups which are not constituted or cannot meet the eligibility criteria may apply under the umbrella of another group
What can they fund?
- Charitable activities and projects
- Core costs / essential running costs
- New projects
- Pilot projects
- Existing projects
- Repeat/continuation funding for projects
- Staff costs
- Full cost recovery to cover overheads which relate to projects
- Small capital costs (typically items under £10,000 such as specialist equipment, tools and materials, IT kit etc.)
- Emergency funding requests
Deadline(s): 4 per annum
Downlands Trust
Location: Surrey
Funding amount: up to £3,000
Who can apply?
- Not specified
What can they fund?
- Promoting the conservation, protection and improvement of the countryside
- Encouraging access to the countryside for all
- Promoting the health and social benefits of becoming involved in a local practical conservation work group
Deadline(s): unknown
Farnham Institute Charity
Location: Farnham
Funding amount: up to £5,000
Who can apply?
- Not specified
What can they fund?
- Work that benefits Farnham residents
- Deliverable projects with a strong community link
- Proposals involving young people and the elderly are encouraged
- Does not fund routine running costs
Deadline(s): 5 deadlines per annum. Applications must be received by 10th January 2024.
Farnham Town Council Community Grants
Location: Farnham
Funding amount: up to £2,000
Who can apply?
- Any not-for-profit organisation
What can they fund?
- Projects which promote the environment and/or community life for residents who live in Farnham and the town’s villages
Deadline(s): 1 deadline per year. The deadline for applications is Monday 4 December 2023.
Godalming Town Council Grant
Location: Godalming
Funding amount: up to £1,000
Who can apply?
- Not specified
What can they fund?
- Local community projects and activities that benefit the residents of Godalming
- Projects need to fit the Town Council’s vision and priorities
- Priority will be given to groups with match funding or that can lever in other funds
Deadline(s): 5 deadlines per annum
Guildford Aspire Community Grants
Location: Guildford
Funding amount: up to £1,000
Who can apply?
- Charities
- Social enterprises
- Community groups
- Voluntary organisations
- Organisations receiving funding from the council through separate funding agreements are not eligible
What can they fund?
- Projects that involve local communities actively working with partners to improve where they live, in ways that matter to them
Deadline(s): 1 deadline per year.
Lower Mole Countryside Trust
Location: Mole Valley, north Surrey and Kingston upon Thames
Funding amount: up to £500
Who can apply?
- Not specified
What can they fund?
- The provision of a high quality countryside management service for north Surrey and Kingston upon Thames, through education and encouraging local people to become involved and promoting conservation by raising funds for countryside and access improvements
- Projects must be in accordance with the aims of the Lower Mole Valley Countryside Trust
- Projects should be visible to the public and/or of benefit to the public
- If the proposal relates to conservation interest it must be in line with the relevant Habitat Action Plan or Species Action Plan
- If the proposal improves public access it must not be detrimental to any conservation interest
- Projects should be supported by the local community
Deadline(s): unknown
Surrey County Council Community Improvements Fund
Location: Surrey
Funding amount: up to £50,000
Who can apply?
- Voluntary or community organisations
- Registered charities
- Constituted groups or clubs
- Community interest companies (CIC)
- Social enterprises
- Schools or statutory bodies (including towns, parishes or community councils)
- Local businesses
What can they fund?
- Funding is available for capital costs linked to community infrastructure projects
- Some of the benefits have been: refurbished community venues, new park gyms, community led shops and coffee enterprises to help young people, extra resources for scouts/guiding groups, and education centres at wildlife hotspots
- Projects which emphasise the community focus/benefit
Deadline(s): 31st January 2025
Surrey Educational Trust
Location: Surrey
Funding amount: up to £25,000
Who can apply?
- Schools
- Organisations
- Educational projects
What can they fund?
- Supports innovative and ambitious ideas that help children, young people and other learners in Surrey
- Looks to fund projects that are particularly innovative, add the most value and demonstrate sufficient evidence of ongoing sustainability
Deadline(s): Unknown
Surrey Heath Borough Council Community Fund Grant Scheme
Location: Surrey Heath
Funding amount: up to £25,000
Who can apply?
- Not-for-profit organisations
What can they fund?
- Projects need to align with the Borough Council's 2020 strategy
- They will pay for up to 50% of larger project costs
Deadline(s): 2 deadlines per annum in June and December
