Nature Recovery Funding
The South Downs National Park Trust is the official independent charity of the South Downs National Park and can provide a range of funding.
Please contact Miriam Swan (01730 819223, grants@southdowns.gov.uk) if you would like to register your interest in any of the programmes below.
Opportunities will be published on the website as they are opened.
Follow this link to find out more
Trust Programmes
Beelines
Funding for the creation or enhancement of wildflower corridors, meadows and hedgerows to establish essential connective routes for pollinators.
We’ve worked with schools, farm owners and landscape partners delivering over 50 hectares of pollinator habitat to sites within the National Park.
Expressions of interest are invited annually, with the next in Spring 2022.
Trees for the Downs
Provide vital support for wildlife by helping us to plant 100,000 trees over 5 years.
Expressions of interest can be made annually for the provision of trees and appropriate protection.
Planting and aftercare costs are contributed by the applicant.
Sites will be within the national park and can include community spaces, farmland, schools, roadsides, walking routes and more!
The projects taken forward receive specialist advice.
Applications for funding will next open in Spring 2022.
Find out more about Trees for the Downs
Grants for Nature Recovery
Nature recovery can happen anywhere, at any scale.
We will fund land owners and community groups looking to manage land for biodiversity and nature’s recovery, understanding the wider benefits this can bring to society.
Funding will be for sites within the South Downs National Park and boundary areas that provide important networks between habitats.
Register your interest through our Call for Nature Sites.
Further opportunities for funding will be launched in the New Year.
Mini grants for schools
£150 awards for activities that help nature to thrive.
Applications for grants will open soon.
Find out more about grants and resources for schools
Sustainable Communities Fund
Community gardens, cultural events and educational programmes are just some examples from this wide-reaching fund.
Projects contribute to at least one outcome in the Partnership Management Plan for the South Downs National Park.
Successful applications demonstrate community benefit and how they will be sustainable environmentally and financially.
Partnerships, constituted not-for-profit organisations (voluntary, charity, social enterprise, community interest companies) and businesses can apply for up to 50% match funding towards non-profit projects.
Grants are a maximum of £10,000. Small grants under £2,000 are decided upon approximately four times a year and large grants twice a year.
More information can be found on the Trust’s website.
Other sources
- Green Finance Institute – Investment Readiness Toolkit. The Investment Readiness Toolkit is an online and interactive framework that takes nature-based project developers and enterprises along the eight milestones of a path to ‘Investment Readiness’, providing key considerations and case studies.
- Credit Nature – Nature Impact Token. A Nature Impact Token is a digital asset that represents a certified fractional stake in a nature recovery project.
Nature Impact Tokens connect investors with like-minded landowners to deliver investable nature recovery project for the benefits of nature, people and business.