Ireland’s leading organics recycling firm, Natural World Products (NWP) has launched a new ‘Sustainable Communities Fund’, seeking to provide financial support to community groups within the West Belfast and Keady areas.

The fund aims to support groups and projects that demonstrate community involvement and benefit with an aim to create opportunities and empower local people.

In line with NWP’s wider business, the funding initiative will have a strong focus on sustainability, providing assistance to groups and projects that can outline how they will make a positive contribution to sustainability at a local level.

The Sustainable Communities Fund is open to a variety of initiatives including but not limited to sports clubs, youth groups, music groups, gardening clubs and beyond.

Patrick Kelly, General Manager at NWP said:

“Contributing positively to the communities in which our facilities are located is vitally important to us. Our Management Team all come from local working-class backgrounds and we want to make sure, wherever possible, we are giving something back to help people on the ground who are battling every day to create opportunities for young people and others in communities that have increasingly been starved of support from central government.

“We currently donate premium-quality peat free compost to numerous initiatives right across Northern Ireland and have witnessed first-hand the hugely positive impact this activity has had.

“With this in mind, we are now pleased to be launching our Sustainable Communities Fund, which we feel represents the next step in our community development efforts.

Eligibility

Projects/groups within the following postcode areas are eligible to apply to The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund:

BT17

BT27

BT11

BT12

BT60

BT35

The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund is open to projects that demonstrate community involvement and benefit with a focus on creating opportunities, empowering communities, and promoting sustainability.

Organisations that apply for The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund must have been formed for a minimum of six months.

Applications and projects that benefit all members of the community regardless of age, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or religion, will be given preference.

Each application to receive funding from The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund must be accompanied by a detailed breakdown of costs including copies of estimates and details of funding from other sources.

Funding from The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund will not be awarded in retrospect to projects that have already been completed.

Funding from The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund will not be made available to support the payment of salaries, or for ongoing expenditure.

Political parties are exempt from applying to The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund.

Bodies that have statutory responsibilities, including local authorities, hospitals or clinics are exempt from applying to The NWP Sustainable Communities Fund.

Projects that involve the creation of a physical asset that may require ongoing maintenance, such as a garden, may require the production of a maintenance plan.

Closing dates for applications is 19th August and 30th November.

To apply to the Sustainable Communities Fund please visit NWP launches Sustainable Communities Fund (naturalworldproducts.com) and complete and return an application form to – apply@nwp-recycle.com