Need to find funding for your community orchard? This section is for community orchard groups. While it’s not intended to be a comprehensive guide, we hope it will get you started with looking for grant funding for your orchard.
Websites to search for grant funding
- Funding Central: https://www.myfundingcentral.co.uk This service is free for organisations under £30k
- Funds Online: https://fundsonline.org.uk This funding website is run by the Directory of Social Change (DSC)
- Grants Online: https://www.grantsonline.org.uk
- Grantway: https://www.grantway.com
Some grant funding opportunities
- The National Lottery Community Fund: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
- People’s Postcode Lottery: https://www.postcodelottery.info/charities/local-funding-opportunities
- There are numerous supermarket chains which offer community grants or donations to local charities and community groups e.g. Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Nisa, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose
- Most areas in the UK have Community Foundations that manage at least one local grant fund: https://www.ukcommunityfoundations.org/our-network
- Your local authority may run a relevant grant scheme: https://www.gov.uk/apply-funding-community-project
- Groundwork manage several grant schemes, some of which may be relevant: https://www.groundwork.org.uk/apply-for-a-grant
- The Mayor of London/Greater London Authority offers a variety of grants: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/communities-and-social-justice/civil-society/community-grants-and-funding
- The International Tree Foundation periodically offers community tree planting grants: https://www.internationaltreefoundation.org/uk-grants
- Periodic Tree Council grants: https://treecouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/planting-and-care/our-grants
Other approaches
- Contact any support, development or infrastructure organisations for the voluntary sector in your local area e.g. your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS). They often have e-newsletters you can subscribe to, which highlight funding opportunities
- Find out who has funded similar projects/organisations in your local area; they may want to fund your project/organisation too
- Access the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) website, which offers general advice on grant fundraising: https://beta.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/funding-income/all-about-grants
Other types of fundraising to consider
- Community fundraising i.e. encouraging donations from neighbours and friends through holding a community event
- Corporate fundraising i.e. getting local businesses to sponsor your project
- Crowdfunding i.e. funding a project by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people via an online crowdfunding platform.
If you need The Orchard Project’s help to deliver your orchard
If your community group is thinking of applying for a grant to deliver any orchard-related work, and you would like to commission The Orchard Project to help realise your project, please get in touch – see our consultancy webpage for more information.
From time to time, The Orchard Project may reach out to community groups that want to plant a new orchard, restore an existing one, or require some orchard improvement work. We will then look to include your group/site in larger funding bids that we seek to secure and deliver.
Become a supporter
Do you believe that community orchards can be transformative? That they change places for the better and bring people together?