The Royal Countryside Fund is launching a new UK-wide Supporting Rural Communities grant programme on Friday 10th January 2025. This funding is available to rural community organisations, not individuals or private businesses.
This new differentiated funding will support transformative, community-led initiatives across the UK, unlocking the huge potential for positive change in rural communities. Our aim is to support innovative solutions that will “power up, not prop up” communities, inspiring change and encouraging economic vibrancy.
Organisations can apply for grants of up to £25,000 over a period of 24 months to deliver activities along the themes of:
- Keeping young people in the countryside
- Powering up rural communities
- Increasing environmental sustainability
- Building emergency resilience in rural areas.
Support will be focused on isolated rural areas where the activity is required due to a lack of alternative services. Projects must be community led and show that they actively listen to, understand and respond to the needs of their local community. The Royal Countryside Fund is particularly seeking innovative solutions to the challenges facing rural areas. Is there a project that hasn’t been done before that could be replicated in other rural communities, helping to increase the scale of change?
There is a two-stage application process. Applicants will need to send a short video and complete a simple ‘Expression of Interest’ form.
A webinar for prospective applicants is being held on 17 December 2024. You can sign up for the webinar via the link here.
