Great Big Green Week – Community Fund

Grants are available for charities, community groups, voluntary organisations, and other not-for-profit organisations to deliver events and activities during the Great Big Green Week 2022.

This fund aims to support community groups to organise local events, activities, and festivals that engage local communities and celebrate the actions and progress being made on climate change.

Projects, activities, and events should take place during the Great Big Green Week (24 September to 2 October 2022).

Three grant sizes are available:

• Small grants between £200 and £500.

• Medium grants between £500 and £5,000.

• Large grants between £5,000 and £10,000.

The following can apply:

• Voluntary and community organisations.

• Constituted groups or clubs.

• Registered charities.

• Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs).

• Not-for-profit companies.

• Community interest companies.

• Schools (if the project benefits and involves communities around the school and appropriate safeguarding policies are in place).

• Statutory bodies, such as local authorities, towns, parishes, and community councils.

• Community benefit societies.

Funding is for projects and activities that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Empower local groups to create new connections locally that support new people and organisations to take climate action locally (eg local businesses, sports clubs, cultural organisations, and faith groups.

• Led by or in partnership with groups who are underrepresented within the climate movement (Eg ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, or poorer communities).

• Are in locations with no existing green week or related activity, or where the event takes existing or previously funded activity to a new level.

• Engage local politicians and/or councillors in events happening in their constituency.

• Support engagement across generations and encourage intergenerational dialogue.

Funding can be used to cover:

• Equipment.

• One-off Events.

• Staff costs (if directly in support of the proposed Great Big Green Week activity).

• Transport.

• Utilities.

• Volunteer expenses.

• Publicity (eg flyers, social media advertising etc).

For more information and to apply please visit Funding - Great Big Green Week

Climate Action Fund

This funding aims to help communities across the UK to address climate change.

We’re looking for projects that focus on the link between nature and climate. We want to fund projects that use nature to encourage more community-led climate action. We expect these projects to bring other important social and economic benefits. Like the creation of strong, resilient and healthy communities or the development of ‘green’ skills and jobs.

We’re interested in projects that can do at least one of the following:

• show how creating a deeper connection with nature will lead to changing people’s behaviours and greater care for the environment

• show how by bringing nature back into the places we live and work, we can help communities to reduce or adapt to the impacts of climate change.

You can read our blog for examples of projects we’re likely to fund.

We want all the projects we fund to be creative, include everyone and try out new things. Projects also need to show how they can achieve longer-term, larger change that goes beyond the communities they're directly working with.

We’re looking to fund between 12 and 15 projects.

We'll accept applications from either:

• local partnerships

• UK-wide partnerships which are delivered across at least two UK countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales).

Area UK-wide

Suitable for Community and voluntary organisations, charities, public sector, working in partnerships

Funding size Up to £1.5 million over 2 to 5 years, with most projects between £300,000 and £500,000. Development grants of £50,000 to £150,000 over 12 to 18 months.

Application deadline Ongoing

For more information and to apply, please visit Climate Action Fund | The National Lottery Community Fund (tnlcommunityfund.org.uk)

NWP launches Sustainable Communities Fund

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

Marine Litter Capital Grants

Live Here Love Here are delighted to announce the launch of the second year of the highly successful Marine Litter Grants. The Live Here Love Here Marine Litter Capital Grants are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs through the Live Here Love Here collaborative partnership, involving DAERA, ten Local Councils, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

The Marine Litter Capital Grants will support organisations and groups to purchase items to:

• Prevent litter and plastic pollution from entering the marine environment

• Enhance the environmental management of a local area to reduce marine litter

• Improve the health and wellbeing of communities and marine biodiversity recovery by helping to improve and/or maintain the quality of public open spaces

• Improve the quality of their local environment by changing behaviour through creative concepts to reduce the incidence of littering

Financial support of between £500 and £40,000 will be available to constituted groups, businesses and statutory bodies meeting the eligibility criteria. 

Financial support of between £500 and £5,000 will be available to non-constituted groups. 

For more information and to apply, please visit Marine Litter Capital Grants delivered by Live Here Love Here

Coca-Cola Thank You Fund

Now in its 12th year, the Coca‑Cola Thank You Fund was set up in 2011 to mark the 125th anniversary of the company.

Over the years, the Coca‑Cola Thank You Fund has supported projects including community, social and education programmes aimed at youth, healthy and active lifestyles and environmental leadership. To date €1,255,00 has been given to 121 non-profit organisations across the island of Ireland.

In 2022, Coca‑Cola will donate a further €100,000 to youth-orientated non-profit groups committed to support young people to build sustainable communities.

For the purposes of the Fund, young people are defined as those aged between 16 and 25 years of age.

In 2022, the Fund will focus on one overall theme – Investing in Sustainable Communities - enabling everyone to live in a community where economic and environmental sustainability as well as social equity is at its heart. The Fund will help to nurture a generation of change champions who will help to shape, create and maintain sustainable communities for the benefit of all.

Within this theme, the Fund is seeking applications which fall under one or more of the following three categories:

1.    EDUCATION
Educational, Training, Resilience, entrepreneurship programmes for young people

2.    DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Programmes that support Diversity & Inclusivity and social equity among young people

3.    CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Programmes that encourage and support young people to care for and protect the environment

For more information and to apply, please visit Thank You Fund | Community and culture | Coca-Cola IE