GrantRadar

The Conservation Volunteers (TCV)

TCV Chestnut Fund

Very small grants for grassroots conservation volunteering groups anywhere in the UK: up to GBP 200 as a start-up grant for a group in its first year, and up to GBP 500 as a support grant for tools, equipment or training. Groups must join TCV's free Community Network before they can apply. These are explicitly 'grants of last resort' — local sources and the members themselves are expected to contribute first, and a group with more than GBP 2,000 of unrestricted funds will normally be turned down.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Up to £500
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Moderate
full application with documents

Who can apply

  • Independent community and conservation groups anywhere in the UK whose principal purpose is conservation volunteering, and whose work encourages biodiversity and public access to the natural environment
  • Membership of the TCV Community Network, which is free, is a prerequisite
  • The group must have minimal unrestricted funds — less than GBP 2,000 — and untied income under GBP 2,000 a year; the committee will only look at better-off groups where refusing would very adversely affect their outcomes
  • It must have its own current bank account in the group's own name with at least two, ideally three, independent people involved, and must not use another organisation's or an individual's account
  • A group that is an offshoot of a larger body must show it is distinct and separate from the parent
  • Start-up grants are limited to a group's first year of existence, or to the point at which it first becomes established as an independent group; a lapsed group must show it is substantially new
  • A further Support grant is normally only allowed after three years, and then only with evidence of continued growth or a new area of work plus specific support from a TCV office or local Wildlife Trust
  • Applications are ideally endorsed by the local TCV office or, where there is none, by an appropriate nature conservation or wildlife body that knows the group's work
  • There is no right to a grant: the Chestnut Fund is an independent committee within TCV and gives at its own discretion

What it funds

  • Start-up grants cover the administrative expenses of getting a new group going — insurance premiums, TCV association fees, postage, photocopying, stationery, printing, publicity, posters, newsletters, telephone, website bills and hire of a meeting room — for specific items proportionate to the size and realistic needs of the group
  • Support grants cover tools, equipment and training, with training especially welcomed when it is aimed at a leader or trainer who will then be the expert within the group

A group in its first year can hold both.

TCV training courses may be charged at TCV's subsidised rates.

What it will not fund

  • Work that others, especially statutory authorities, are responsible for
  • Project materials, plants, seeds, trees and other consumables
  • Administrative and running costs, under a Support grant
  • Publications, and training for a whole group rather than a leader
  • Power tools, except in exceptional circumstances where the tool is a principal element of the group's work and would be used by many people
  • Promotional clothing or uniforms
  • Office equipment — printers, computers, photocopiers — unless exceptional need is evidenced and the item would directly increase conservation volunteering
  • Retrospective costs: grants are non-retrospective and non-transferable, the only usual exception being insurance fees recently paid under TCV's discounted Zurich scheme
  • Groups that only promote green ideas or encourage others, rather than involving volunteers in practical environmental work

safety and protective clothing may be considered where it is not for individual issue

How to apply

  1. Join the TCV Community Network — registration is free and is a precondition of applying
  2. Where possible, discuss the application with your local TCV office or the Community Network Coordinator first, so your eligibility can be assessed before you make a formal application
  3. If you are already a member, apply through the Community Network Portal; forms can also be requested from chestnut-fund@tcv.org.uk or issued directly by the Community Network in Doncaster
  4. Where a local TCV office exists, return the completed form to that office — a member of staff must endorse it, recommend the group and give their reasons for support
  5. Where there is no local TCV office, scan and email the form to chestnut-fund@tcv.org.uk, or post it to The Community Network Coordinator, Community Network, Gresley House, Ten Pound Walk, Doncaster DN4 5HX

if the application is ineligible, you and your local office are told as soon as possible with the reasons, so it can be corrected and resubmitted

Have ready

  • Names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of three individuals who live at separate addresses, with their positions in the group
  • Your group's sources of funds and approximate annual amounts, saying which are tied to particular things, plus your current cleared funds
  • Group bank or building society account name, sort code and account number
  • Insurance details — insurer, policy number and expiry date — or confirmation that you are applying for TCV's discounted Zurich cover
  • For a Support grant, an itemised schedule of each tool, item of equipment or training course with the proposed supplier, unit price and quantity

proof of the bank account, preferably a PDF statement showing account name, number and sort code, is required before any payment is made

receipts or invoices for the approved items must be sent afterwards, usually within a month, and a follow-up questionnaire arrives the summer after the grant

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