Growing Communities

Connecting with nature

Growing Communities is a new small grants programme to enable communities within Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland and Essex to connect with nature with a specific focus on:

- community growing i.e. fruit & veg

- tree planting

- access to nature in towns and cities

Do you run an outdoor project? Need some extra funding support? Why not apply for one of our small grants £400-£2,000 to help your work? Growing Communities is a match funding programme. Once you’ve raised all the funds you can, Growing Communities will release the matching donation - doubling whatever is raised from local sources (up to £2,000). Please see more info below.

We are committed to inspiring people to get outdoors and reap the positive mental, physical and social benefits of being outdoors as well as helping wildlife, conservation and our environment. In addition we strongly believe that outdoor community projects create connected communities and help social inclusion.

Health benefit

There is a strong case for people to get out and about in more natural environments. For example, just 30 minutes of gardening a week has a beneficial effect on our mental health.

In addition, research suggests that a two-hour ‘dose’ of nature a week significantly boosts health and well being. This includes being in woods and parks.

Who is eligible?

If you are a small registered charity or voluntary group in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire or Rutland that is running an outdoors project connected with nature, growing or planting then you may be eligible to apply for an award.

You may be running a community allotment to connect with local people or perhaps you’re committed to planting trees in your town to help combat the climate emergency or perhaps encourage wildlife. Or maybe you have taken ownership of some derelict land and have transformed it into a beautiful green space for local residents to enjoy?

If you’d like to apply for an award, then you’ll need to prove the following:

• you are a registered charity (preferable) or voluntary group

• you can find or raise funds to match an award from Growing Communities. Once all funds are raised, Growing Communities will release the matching donation - doubling whatever is raised from local sources (up to £2k). 

• plans for the long-term sustainability of your project.

Awards will be granted each year varying from £400 to £2,000 per project.