Deadline: 18 December 2019

The National Lottery Community Fund is seeking applications for the Climate Action Fund to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change.

The Climate Action Fund aims to reduce the carbon footprint of communities. A broader movement of change will enable communities to do this within and beyond the communities they fund. They will support up to 15 place-based community-led partnerships to make the changes in their community they believe will have the biggest impact on climate change.

What they want to see

• Community-led: Applicants project will be led and driven by local groups with a deep understanding of local needs. Applicants will have developed their idea by involving the people who will benefit. They want to see that applicants have spoken to people and listened to what they have to say and how they are meaningfully involving the people applicants are working with in the development and delivery of their activity.
• Working in partnership: Applicants will be a place-based community-led partnership that brings together a wide range of people and organisations with a shared vision of what local climate change action should look like. Their vision is to support increased collaborative working, which starts with shared goals and values between different organisations and a joint understanding of the bigger picture. Other than voluntary and community organisations, partnerships could include the environmental sector, schools, statutory services, as well as the private sector.
• High impact: Their funding will focus on activities that have the potential to make a meaningful and lasting difference on the carbon footprint of communities. This includes action on sustainable energy, sustainable transport, consumption (food and waste), and the natural environment. To make a real difference, projects might need to have an impact on a number of those areas.
• Lasting impact: To reduce the impact of climate change, it is important that the changes made are sustainable beyond the funding they might give. Long -term changes in behaviour, ways of working and practices need to be at the core of all local climate action activities. Please also refer to the evidence for more information about this.
• Reach: Partnerships need to engage with people outside of those already taking action on climate change in their local communities, and beyond.
• Learning and engagement: They will expect partnerships to produce and share their learning from the start, regularly, and be active participants in a broader movement of change.

Funding Information

• The amount of funding available per application will depend on what each partnership needs at this stage:
  • Applicants who need more time to develop their partnership, engage widely or test their approaches can access initial development funding (up to £200,000 over 18 months)
  • Applicants who might be able to start longer-term plans at an earlier stage can access larger, longer-term awards (up to £2.5m over five years)
• Successful applicants will have experience in implementing meaningful action on climate change.

Eligibility Criteria

They are looking for community-led partnerships and expect the partnerships to be led, either formally or informally, by one of the following types of organisation:

• Voluntary and community organisation
• Registered charity or charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
• School
• Not for profit company including companies limited by guarantee, community interest companies and community benefit societies with two or more directors.

They can’t accept direct applications from or fund:

• Individuals
• Sole traders
• Organisations based outside the UK
• Anyone who is applying on behalf of another organisation
• Organisations that are aimed at generating profits primarily for private distribution
• Organisations without at least two unconnected* people on the board or committee.

(*not a relation by blood or marriage, in a long-term relationship or people living together at the same address)

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply via given website.

For more information, please visit https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/climate-action-fund#section-1