RHS Sustainable Futures Grant

The RHS Sustainable Futures Grant will provide £2,500 for projects that

• Have clearly identified a specific challenge, issue, threat or weakness that will impact the group or school, its work or its local community
• Have clearly identified what action or project the group or school needs to undertake in order to future-proof their work and make its group or school more resilient to the specific challenge they identified
• The funded project will need to be a solution (or proposed solution) to address the issue identified by the group
• Have the potential for long-term positive impact for the group or school, and a means of measuring that impact
• Will provide an opportunity for learning and knowledge sharing with other community groups or schools through the monitoring and evaluation of the project
• Are trying something new or approaches that are tackling issues in an inventive way and that could be replicated by others, or used to inspire others

Funded projects can be new or existing. Existing projects will be eligible if the application is for new work to address the challenge the group has identified, rather than maintaining its work with no development.

Groups and schools registered with one of the following RHS programmes by Wednesday 12 October 2022 can apply for funding:

• Britain in Bloom
• It’s Your Neighbourhood
• RHS Campaign for School Gardening

Groups registered with Britain in Bloom or It’s Your Neighbourhood that are eligible to apply include:

• Community gardening groups and allotment associations
• Charities, social enterprises or other not-for-profit organisations
• Local council or authorities who are a registered BIB or IYN group

Schools: (primary, secondary, all-through, PRU and SEND) registered with the RHS Campaign for School Gardening are eligible to apply if:

• They are non-fee paying state schools
• Over 40% of students receive Free School Meals (FSM) across the year groups that are not automatically entitled to FSM

Funding is available for projects anywhere in the UK, including Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. The group or school and project all need to be based in the UK. All successful applicants will need to have their own organisational bank account for the grant to be paid into.

The following policies and procedures (where applicable) must be in place when the project starts. The RHS can offer help and advice if they are not currently in place:

• Land permission
• Risk assessment
• Safeguarding policy
• Insurance
• Data management and GDPR
• A plan for measuring the impact of the project

The project needs to be running in 2023. The project can be ongoing but the funded work will need to be completed during 2023.

We are unable to fund any of the following:

• Organisations and schools not registered with Britain in Bloom, It’s Your Neighbourhood or the RHS Campaign for School Gardening as of Wednesday 12 October 2022
• Fee-paying schools
• Non-state registered schools or education establishments
• Schools with less than 40% Free School Meals, for the year groups who are not automatically entitled to FSM
• Nurseries, child minders (individual or groups), home parenting groups, ‘Friends of’ or PTA groups
• Multiple academy chains – each school in the chain will need to submit a separate application
• Sports groups, youth groups or uniformed groups (for example, Scouts)
• Projects or organisations based outside the UK
• Organisations without a bank account. Bank accounts must be in an organisation’s name
• Individuals, either directly or indirectly through an organisation
• Organisations that have received any grant from the RHS in the last 12 months (including any partners)
• Projects that won’t start until after 2023
• Work that is not focussed on adapting to a specific challenge 
• Existing projects are only eligible if the application is for a grant to develop and expand their work
• Major capital projects
• Any for-profit company or organisation
• Sole traders (either for-profit or not-for-profit)

Grants of £2,500 are available for new and existing projects. Existing projects will need to show that they are applying for work that is new or a development of current work such as, to address the challenge identified, rather than maintaining the work as it is.

Projects will need to be running in 2023. We will accept applications for ongoing work, but the grant will need to be spent by the end of 2023.

Examples of activities that may be funded include:

• Projects that enable the group to adapt to changing environmental conditions such as developing new ways of working, learning new skills, installing technology
• Activities to ensure the group has appropriate people and skills in the future such as developing recruitment or training programmes, ensuring the group attracts and retains talent
• Educational and learning activities: Projects that take into account how the wider community can get involved in tackling the identified issues. This could take the form of workshops, volunteering sessions or creating information materials
• Research and analysis: To help identify a specific need and provide an evidence-based strategy for the project. This can include surveys to gain feedback from participants and volunteers
• Raising awareness and marketing activities: Producing marketing, online and educational materials to educate, raise awareness, or help more people get involved in tackling key issues
• Impact measuring activities: To measure the impact and effectiveness of the project on the issue identified

• The deadline to submit your application was 5pm on Friday 18 November 2022
• Funding decisions will be made in December 2022, and successful applicants will be informed by January 2023. If you have not heard back by February 2023, please presume you’re application has been usuccessful
• Grants will be awarded to successful applicants in January 2023 and the funding will need to be spent by December 2023

Applications are now closed for the RHS Sustainable Futures Grant.

You needed to complete and submit your application by 5pm on Friday 18 November 2022. If you were still editing your application after 5pm, you might not be able to submit it as the application round closed automatically at that time.

View a copy of the RHS Sustainable Futures Grant application questions. Further information about the grant can be found in our FAQs.

Organisations submitting an application were required to agree to our RHS Sustainable Futures Grant terms and conditions.

RHS Privacy Statement: The Group’s and its Representative’s personal data provided will be used by the RHS for the purpose of administration of the funding application and for contacting you about the application. The personal data will be held for three years and will be deleted following this period, for both successful and unsuccessful applications. Please read the full RHS Privacy Policy to find out more about how we use your personal data and how to exercise your rights under the UK data protection legislation.