Grants & Funding
SSDC Community Grants - Environment
SSDC Community Grants are a great way to make where you live a better place, so if you have an idea to enhance where you live we invite you to apply. Grants are awarded to charities, non-profit organisations and Town and Parish Councils. We can award up to a maximum of 50% of the application value and request you have support from your Parish or Town Council, as well as having considered other possible funding options. New applications are now closed. But contact your Town and Parish Councils who may have some community funding available towards supporting your community environmental projects.
You can view the guidance notes to see if your project fits the criteria here. Or visit our main SSDC website to find out more.
You can also watch a recording of our recent Community Grants webinar to help provide an overview of all you need to know.
Our Environment Team was joined by Adrian Moore from our Locality service to inform how SSDC Community Grants can benefit local environment projects, including ciritera, how to apply and examples of previous projects funded by SSDC Community Grants.
General Grants from other Organisations
We'll keep you up to date with external grant funding opportunities here. These will be environmental and community focussed but please check the criteria before applying:
Tree and Hedgerow Funding Opportunities
A number of national tree planting schemes and funding opportunities are available that can help with funding for community tree planting initiatives, or even provide trees free. We have provided details of several of these schemes below:
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The Woodland Trust - offer free trees for community groups and schools, with applications taken for delivery in March and November each year. To apply click here.
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The Tree Council - have a range of opportunities available to help you plant trees and hedgerows in your area. This includes the Branching Out Fund, Orchards for Schools and the Community Hedge Fund. To apply, click here.
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Reimagining the Levels - offer free trees to landowners and community groups as part of their ‘Plant Trees to Slow the Flow’ scheme to counteract the damaging effects of sudden and prolonged flooding in Somerset. RtL is also interested in supporting other tree planting schemes, particularly community plantings in schools, recreation grounds, village halls etc., that are not linked to water management. For more details click here.
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The UK Tree Foundation - provide funding up to £6,000 to support grassroots community projects across the UK that engage local people in tree planting. UK community-based organisations can apply, including registered charities, community and voluntary groups and schools. Projects should plant a minimum of 50 trees per £1,000 of grant funding or regenerate land for the benefit of trees and local wildlife. To apply, click here.
If you are interested in committing an area of land for tree planting, please use the Contact Us form, as we would love to hear about it. We may even be able to match you with organisations looking for land to plant trees.
Typically you will require around 5 to 8 metres of perimeter land, 1 metre wide for 30 hedgerow trees, or a tennis court sized area for a copse of 30 trees.