Funding and grants
There are various grants available for different types of tree-planting groups:
The Big Tree Plant funding
A £4m funding scheme is supporting community groups to plant trees in towns, cities and residential areas throughout England.
The funding is for community and civic groups, or other non-profit organisations to establish community-led tree planting projects in areas that would benefit most.
The trees must be planted in streets or in green places that are open to all to visit or where local people will benefit from them. Whoever owns the land must give permission and support to the project, and there must be a plan to care for trees after they are planted.
Groups working in areas where more trees would help to improve residents’ quality of life are strongly encouraged to apply for the funding.
Apply for Big Tree Plant funding
To apply for the Big Tree Plant funding you need to download the application form, fill it in with the details of your scheme and return it to the address given on the form.
The fund is open for applications now and the next deadline is 31 August 2013. To find the new application form, guidance notes and the next funding application deadline, click on the following link:
To contact The Big Tree Plant funding scheme administrator call 0800 856 7984
Funding for school and community trees
The Tree Council provides funds through two programmes: “Trees for Schools” and “Community Trees”.
Trees for Schools grants are open to all schools within the UK with pupils aged 16 or under.
Community Trees grants are open to community groups in the UK that include children up to the age of 16
The Woodland Trust also offers free tree packs for schools and community groups. The packs supply the trees you will need for your project – for youth groups, community groups and schools.
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has a variety of programmes to fund activities such as tree-planting, training for volunteers and community purchase of woodland or forest, among other things.
Funding is available to not-for-profit organisations and partnerships and can include local authorities.
HLF offers a range of grant programmes, awarding grants upwards of £3000. The organisation wants to support innovative as well as tried-and-tested approaches, and welcome proposals that are pioneering in concept and delivery:
The HLF funds projects which promote benefits for the public and which are not mainly for private gain. It welcomes applications from single organisations and partnerships. They give priority to not-for-profit organisations and partnerships. If private owners are involved, the public benefit is expected to be greater than any private gain.
Other grants
A list of other grant providers which may be able to help is available from The Woodland Trust website.
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Big tree Plant Toolkit
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