GrantRadar

The National Lottery Community Fund

Climate Action Fund - Food Systems

Very large, long-term National Lottery grants of £2.5 million to £7 million for UK partnerships working on systems change in the food system: agroecological community food growing, equitable distribution of healthy affordable food, and better food options for people experiencing poverty, disadvantage or discrimination. Applications must come from a formal partnership of not-for-profit and public organisations with different expertise; most funded projects will receive £3m-£5m and run for 5-7 years. Up to 10 projects are expected to be funded in the first year, through a two-stage process that starts with a conversation with the Fund.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£2,500,000 – £7,000,000
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Formal partnerships only: organisations with different areas of expertise (e.g. food systems and agroecology, climate, environment and nature, communications, learning and evaluation, community representation) sharing roles, responsibilities and funding
  • Every partner must be a registered charity, a company limited by guarantee (with a not-for-profit clause or registered as a charity), a CIC, a CIO or SCIO, a community benefit society, a co-operative society (not-for-profit clause, FCA-registered), a public body (e.g. local authority, town, parish or community council), or a school, college or university where the project benefits the wider community
  • CICs, non-charitable companies limited by guarantee, community benefit societies and co-operatives need an asset lock
  • Each organisation needs at least 2 unrelated board or committee members (or directors)
  • Partnerships can be local, regional or national, in one UK nation or several, new or established; private sector partners can contribute match funding or pro bono support but profit-making organisations cannot be funded
  • Existing National Lottery grant holders can apply
  • Projects in Wales must be bilingual

What it funds

Partnership projects that work towards systems change (addressing root causes, changing rules and ways of working, giving communities more control, scalable approaches) in one or more of three aims:

  • How community organisations grow and produce food using agroecological methods
  • How food gets distributed, aiming for equitable access to healthy, affordable food for all (e.g. access to land, facilities and resources, community-owned food spaces, networks that help communities influence change)
  • Offering people and communities different food options, especially those experiencing poverty, disadvantage or discrimination (e.g. reducing reliance on surplus food redistribution, improving community food spaces such as retail, catering, growing, community kitchens, cafés and public dining)

Every project must work in a partnership, make a lasting impact on climate change, environment and nature, significantly increase access to healthy affordable food, plan to measure impact and tell its story, and meaningfully involve communities.

Eligible costs include staff and sessional workers, support for communities and smaller partners, partnership working, organisational development, transport, utilities and running costs, volunteer expenses, learning and evaluation, equipment, translation, proportionate overheads, some capital costs (e.g. land purchase or leasing, land restoration, equipment and tools) and some non-party-political campaigning.

What it will not fund

  • Projects where funding goes to a single organisation
  • Statutory activities, or activities that replace government funding
  • Capital projects related to refurbishing buildings, retrofitting or energy generation (e.g. solar panels)
  • Capital-only projects
  • Loans, endowments or interest
  • Paying someone else to write your application
  • Activities where a profit will be distributed for private gain
  • Fundraising activities
  • Reclaimable VAT
  • Alcohol
  • Retrospective costs
  • Items that only benefit an individual rather than the wider community
  • Religious activities (religious organisations can apply if the project benefits the wider community and has no religious content)
  • Projects whose main purpose is political activity, or party-political work or work aiming to influence elections
  • Unlikely: single-site projects such as community gardens or allotments
  • Unlikely: projects that only deliver services such as food banks or food surplus redistribution
  • Unlikely: projects that cannot show a long-term systems change approach or positive impact on climate, nature or the environment
  • Unlikely: projects promoting the views or agenda of a single organisation or group
  • Individuals, sole traders and organisations based outside the UK
  • Companies that pay profits to directors, shareholders or members, including companies limited by shares
  • Organisations applying to more than one of the Fund's programmes for the same project at the same time
  • Organisations applying on behalf of someone else (unless as a partnership)

How to apply

  1. Watch the pre-recorded webinar (linked from the programme page) to check whether the programme fits
  2. Email climateactionfund@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk with the lead person's full name, email address, phone number and organisation name to arrange an initial conversation about your idea
  3. Complete the stage-one online application (questions can be previewed first) covering what you want to do and why, how you meet the aims and criteria, and what you hope to learn
  4. The Fund aims to tell you within 4 months whether your application goes to the second stage
  5. At stage two, send more detailed information including financial information and a detailed project proposal; the Fund carries out checks and discusses your plans (up to 5 months)
  6. Final decision; successful partnerships agree to the terms and conditions for funding over £20,000

No deadline is published; the programme status is 'Open to applications'.

The Fund may ask to see your equalities policy, and expects an environmental action plan and a safeguarding policy where relevant.

Have ready

  • Stage-one online application form
  • Stage two: financial information
  • Stage two: detailed project proposal

A learning and evaluation plan is expected; an equalities policy may be requested.

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