External funding opportunities
Looking for a grant, contract or loan to help support a project that focuses on environmental sustainability? Funding Watch provides a list of current funding opportunities for arts & cultural organisations seeking financial support for environmental & sustainability projects. This page is updated regularly as new funding sources are discovered.
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The Eaton Fund can provide grants to help artists and art students. The Trustees have made grants to fund art materials, items of equipment and exhibition costs, such as framing.
Grants are restricted to artists and students working in the visual arts fields, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, print-making, photography, and video installations.
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Emergency funding for authors affected by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis. The Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), the Royal Literary Fund (RLF), the T S Eliot Foundation in partnership with English PEN, and Amazon UK generously contributed financial resources to create the Authors’ Emergency Fund, to help support authors impacted financially by the growing health crisis.
Funding is still available for 2021. Applications are open to all professional authors who are resident in the UK or British subjects.
Grants are likely to be up to £2,000 and designed to meet urgent need with the possibility of review as the situation continues.
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The Mayor of London’s Culture at Risk office works with cultural, creative industries and night time businesses to ensure those affected by the COVID-19 crisis get the support they need.
The office provides tailored support to meet your needs. Some of our services include:
- Mediating disputes
- Reviewing planning applications
- Providing sector-specific research, evidence and guidance
- Connecting individuals and organisations with expert support
- Providing capacity-building resources
- Facilitating conversations with local authorities
Please register to help receive the right type of support and keep up to date with news on resources, funds and guidance. Contact by emailing cultureatrisk@london.gov.uk.
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Actors Benevolent Fund, for over 135 years has supported actors and stage managers experiencing hardship due to injury, illness, or old age.
Eligibility:
If you are a professional actor or stage manager and are unable to work because of:
- Injury
- Illness
- Old age
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The Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation is a grant giving trust supporting the development of a just society based on a commitment to nonviolence and environmental sustainability.
What they fund:
- Peace and Sustainable Security
- Environmental Sustainability
PCCF usually give grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 per year, for up to three years. They usually support organisations for whom this would represent between 4% and 50% of their annual income (organisations with an annual income of between £10,000 and £500,000 approximately).
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The Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is a government environmental programme that provides financial incentives to increase the uptake of renewable heat by businesses, the public sector and non-profit organisations.
Once you’re accredited, a tariff level will be assigned to your installation based on its technology (eg biomass, heat pump, solar) and size. Payments will be made based on the actual heat output of the installation.
Tariff rates are set by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
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The Mayor of London’s Energy Efficiency Fund (MEEF) provides flexible and competitive finance and offers a wide range of funding options, through its consortium of funders, to deliver new low carbon technology or upgrade existing low carbon infrastructure, with an investment period of up to 20 years.
MEEF can fund up to 100% of the capital cost of a £1m+ project but could also part fund large scale regeneration projects which will have low carbon credentials:
- Energy Efficiency
- Decentralised Energy
- Small Scale Renewables
- Energy Storage
- Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
- Regeneration Projects
Hospitals, museums, offices, libraries, social housing and universities are amongst the public buildings and small businesses that can apply.
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The Sustainable Development Fund is in addition to SSE’s local community funds and supports strategic projects in the regions where SSE is operating. The fund supports projects which take a longer term view by delivering transformational social, economic and/or environmental changes in the community and develop sustainable ventures for the future.
The fund supports projects which:
- Creating opportunities – Create or enhance opportunities for education and employment through activities that develop skills and improve an individual’s chance of entering the workplace.
- Empowering communities – Empower communities to become more resilient and protect vulnerable residents through measures which demonstrate long-term social, environmental or economic improvements.
- Sustainable places – Stimulate meaningful regeneration to improve or enhance local infrastructure, landscape, biodiversity or heritage and make a lasting difference to the places we live, work and visit.
The North Lincolnshire Fund is currently open for 2021.
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The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is an innovative tax credit scheme enabling operators of landfill sites in England, Northern Ireland and Wales to contribute money to organisations enrolled with ENTRUST as Environmental Bodies (EBs).
The LCF allows Landfill Operators (LOs) to contribute a portion of their landfill tax liability to community and environmental organisations to ‘offset’ some of the negative impacts of living in the vicinity of a landfill site.
LOs contributing to the LCF are able to claim a credit (5.3% in 2018/2019) against their landfill tax liability. The percentage is called the diversion rate and is set each year by Government. The credit LOs are entitled to is 90% of the contribution LOs make to EBs. They then either bear the remaining 10% themselves or can ask an independent third party (described as the Contributing Third Party) to make up some or all of the difference.
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The Awesome Foundation is an ever-growing worldwide community devoted to forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe. The Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators.
Each fully autonomous chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants, usually given out monthly. These micro-grants, $1000 or the local equivalent, come out of pockets of the chapter’s “trustees” and are given on a no-strings-attached basis to people and groups working on awesome projects.
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The Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF), is a £15 million programme, funded by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (DBEIS). It supports rural communities in England to develop renewable energy projects which provide economic and social benefits to the community.
The fund provides up to approximately £150,000 of funding for feasibility and pre-planning development work to help projects become investment ready.
Amount: Generally up to £150,000
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Big Issue Invest offers social enterprises and charities, loans and investment from £20,000 to £3 million. Big Issue currently manage or advise on £170 million worth of social funds and have a range of funds, products and programmes designed to suit a variety of organisations.
Social enterprises, community organisations, charities, and businesses that are socially driven, that have been operating for min 24 months and have a history of positive cash generation (or a clear near-term path to surplus cash generation) can apply.
Amount: £20,000 to £3 million.
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Usually one or a combination of a finance lease, lease purchase, loan finance, or sometimes an operating lease.
Any organisation trading for at least 36 months and able to provide latest full company financials.
Operating lease only available to schools and academies.
Energy efficiency assets can be funded over max 5 years, energy generation assets over max 7 years.
No deposits usually required.
Amount: Over £1,000
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ReEnergise Finance is focused exclusively on supporting the energy efficiency and renewable energy market.
ReEnergise provide Hire Purchase and Lease finance options to commercial businesses, independent schools, academy schools and Public Sector bodies to support their investment in renewable energy generation.
The financed options are designed to be self-funding through the savings from more energy efficient equipment. ReEnergise offer 100% financing to include ground works, installation and other project related costs.
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The Trust currently awards around £20m per year to charitable causes in London with capital grants of up to £100,000.
Grants are given for either running (revenue) costs or capital costs (not both). The majority of these grants are made under their Investing in Londoners scheme and must meet the priorities of certain programmes. Programmes include:
– Making London More Inclusive
– Making London Safer
– Improving London’s EnvironmentImproving London’s Environment Programme
The programme aims to fund projects which help promote environmental education, work to maintain and enhance biodiversity in London and promote tree-planting and green space initiatives. The trust also funds free eco-audits for organisation wishing to examine the carbon footprint of their buildings.
No minimum or maximum revenue grant.
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NatWest Social & Community Capital offers a helping hand to social ventures looking to scale, through loans, provided with flexible terms and business support. As a community business, you can access loan funding from £30,000 to £750,000.
You’ll get flexible terms – including capital repayment holidays if you need them. Interest is charged during the period of underpayment and your monthly payments may increase afterwards.
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