Apply Now for Climate Action Fund Round 2 – United Kingdom

Deadline: 08-Apr-21

Applications are now open for Climate Action Fund Round 2 to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change.

Focus Areas

Their focus remains on place-based, community-led partnerships that will make the changes in their community they believe will have the biggest impact on climate change. Their focus of waste and consumption covers themes such as the following sub-categories:

• Food waste
• Repair and re-use
• Retail and consumerism
• Waste streams.

Funding Information

• Total available: Around £8 million to £10 million is available for this second round of funding. They expect to make 12 to 15 awards in total in this round, and to award more development grants than full awards.
• 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 apply for initial development funding (the minimum grant size is £100,000, up to a maximum of £150,000 – the minimum length is 12 months). You may have an opportunity to apply for longer-term funding at a later stage.
  • Applicants who have more developed project proposals and might be able to start longer-term plans at an earlier stage can apply for larger, longer-term awards (the minimum grant size is £500,000, up to a maximum of £1.5 million. They expect the length of full awards to be between three to five years). You do not need to have had a Climate Action Fund development grant first to apply for a full award.

The projects they fund must also be able to show:

• How they are community-led – the project will be led and driven by local groups with a deep understanding of local needs, and the idea will have been designed and developed by involving the people who will benefit. They want to see that the project has spoken to people in the community and listened to what they have to say, what they want, why it’s important to them, and how people will be involved.
• That they’re working in partnership – projects will be place-based, community-led partnerships that bring together a wide range of people and organisations with a shared vision of what local climate action should look like. They know that change involves all parts of society and expect you to be working with multiple partners from different sectors. They’re particularly interested in partnerships that include health and the NHS, local authorities and/or housing associations. They cannot fund organisations aimed at generating profit for private distribution, but they encourage partnerships to find ways to work with the private sector. If awarded funding, partnerships will be expected to put in place a partnership agreement (if they have not done so already), specifying how they will work together.
• Their plans for how the project will achieve lasting impact – to maximise the climate benefit, it’s important that the changes made are sustainable beyond the funding they might give. They’re looking for projects that are able to show how their work will support behavioural and lifestyle changes across their community, and potentially longer-term attitude shifts. Whether this is building on work that you’ve been doing for years, or taking a completely fresh approach, they’re particularly interested in projects that can show how their work will point towards wider systemic change.
  how they will reach more people - projects need to engage with people outside of those already taking climate action and will be able to show clear plans for, and a commitment to, public engagement.
• Their approach to learning and sharing – projects will have plans as to how they’ll measure change and demonstrate the difference the project will make, including how they’ll share their learning to enable and inspire others to take action.

They’re also interested in hearing from groups who are considering different ways to finance their projects, including developing the potential for income generation from non-grant sources.

Eligibility Criteria

They are looking to invest in community-led partnerships that are made up of a mix of organizations from different sectors. They can fund both new partnerships, and ones that have already been set up. At this stage, they are looking for the organization that is best placed to speak on behalf of the partnership, and it must be one of the following types of eligible organizations:

• Voluntary and community organization
• Registered charity
• Charitable incorporated organization (CIO)
• Not-for-profit company limited by guarantee – you must be a registered charity or have a not-for-profit ‘asset lock’ clause in your articles of association
• Community interest company (CIC)
• School
• Community benefit society
• Co-operative society – you must have a not-for-profit ‘asset lock’ clause in your society rules and also be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Note: They are particularly interested in projects led by, or supporting, people and communities who have been hardest hit by climate change. They want to see more people across these communities represented in their funding.

Who is not eligible?

• They cannot accept applications from:
  • Individuals
  • Sole traders
  • Organizations based outside the UK
  • Anyone who’s applying for another organization
  • Organizations focused on making profits and sharing these profits privately – including companies limited by shares, organizations without the right asset locks, or organizations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders.

For more information, visit https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/climate-action-fund-round-2#section-1