Prince's Trust Countryside Fund

The Prince's Countryside Fund – Spring Round Now Open with £800,000 for UK Rural Initiatives

The Prince's Countryside Fund was established to support the sustainability and protection of farms and rural communities throughout the UK. The aim of the funding is to have a long-term positive impact on rural communities, helping those that live and work there to sustain the countryside by tackling key rural issues.

The budget for the spring round is £800,000 with grants of up to £50,000 available to not-for-profit organisations, charities, Social Enterprises, Community Interest Companies, Companies Limited by Guarantee, and Unincorporated Associations. Funding is for a maximum of three years and for a maximum grant of £50,000 per project.

Grants must result in outcomes that directly relate to the Fund's objectives to:

   - Improve the viability of British farming targeting the areas of greatest need.
   - Improve the sustainability of rural communities targeting the areas of greatest need.

Projects must focus on at least one of the following three key countryside issues:

   - Developing Thriving Rural Communities by improving service provision in rural areas. Projects should provide innovative solutions to deliver assets and services that keep rural communities together and develop a more sustainable rural economy, such as empowering communities to provide village services or create business hubs and employment for local people.
   - Transforming Rural Livelihoods by supporting rural enterprise and farming businesses. Projects should focus on developing stronger, more sustainable farm and rural enterprises with the aim of halting the decline of the rural economy, for example by providing rural businesses with support and advice or supporting farmer led initiatives.
   - Creating the Farmers of the Future by providing training opportunities for young people and the unemployed. Projects should help improve skills and increase opportunities of taking up rural careers, in particular in farming, with the aim of helping people to remain within and contribute to the rural economy, for example, training opportunities and apprenticeship schemes that inspire and enable new entrants to consider a career in farming.

The deadline for applications is 9 April 2015.

http://princescountrysidefund.org.uk/