RHS Connected Communities Grant

The RHS Connected Communities Grant will provide £2,500 for projects that:

• Focus on reaching new groups of people not currently involved with the applicant’s activities. The new people could be defined by a specific characteristic (for example, age, health or gender), geographical location or by circumstances (for example, bereaved people or people who live alone). We are particularly interested in projects aiming to work with groups that are traditionally under-represented in community gardening
• Have identified the new group and why they want to work with them by demonstrating the need for their specific project and how the target audience will benefit from it
• Have a long-term impact, developing meaningful community connections via ongoing gardening activities rather than one-off events or low-level engagement
• Facilitates activities that are designed with, and by, the new target group to help address any specific barriers to participation
• Will provide an opportunity for learning and knowledge sharing with other community groups
• Are trying something new or creating new connections in an inventive way

Funded projects can be new or existing. Existing projects will be eligible if the funding is for furthering activities to involve new groups of people, rather than maintaining the current project as is.

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

• Britain in Bloom
• It’s Your Neighbourhood

The types of groups eligible to apply for the funding include:

• Community gardening groups and allotment associations
• Charities, social enterprises or other not-for-profit organisations
• Local council or authorities who are Britain in Bloom or It’s Your Neighbourhood groups

Funding is available for projects anywhere in the UK, including Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. 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
• Insurance
• Data management and GDPR
• A plan for measuring the impact of the project

We are unable to fund any of the following:

• Organisations not registered with Britain in Bloom or It’s Your Neighbourhood as of 12 October 2022
• Schools, education or childcare providers, 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
• Work that is not directly focused on creating new connections with a specific group or community through gardening activities
• Applications for existing projects with no development aspect, i.e. not reaching new audiences
• Projects that won’t start until after 2023
• One-off events or projects that do not provide long-term opportunities
• 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 new work or developing their current work i.e. reaching new participants.

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.

We are looking for projects that use any kind of growing or gardening to engage groups of people they haven’t worked with before. In particular, we are interested in applications for work to adapt or create new projects with the needs of the new group in mind and address any barriers they may face to getting involved (for example, transport, cost or language). Projects should aim for long-term engagement and impact, rather than one-off interactions. We would also like to see projects that offer an opportunity for learning and sharing knowledge. We will prioritise projects that aim to work with a traditionally under-represented group in community gardening.

The grant can be spent on:

• Marketing, communications and promotion of the project and project resources
• Community engagement
• Training
• Access and adaptions, for example, translation, transport, subsidising sessions
• Monitoring and evaluation
• External facilitation
• Volunteer recruitment
• Participant research and idea development
• Gardening materials (such as, plants, seeds, soil, tools, planters)
• Outdoor structures eg, sheds, polytunnel
• Staff costs
• Volunteer expenses

Examples of types of projects that may be funded include:

• Regular ‘get-together’ activities and events: Community gardening provides opportunities to bring different people together through volunteering. It can offer a place for regular contact, as there is always something to do or maintain. Volunteers taking part can feel more connected to their local area and other people over time, giving people a chance to establish meaningful relationships
• Sharing skills and knowledge: Projects can provide opportunities for people to share or exchange skills and knowledge, enabling them to try new activities or test new approaches and see the results of their work over an extended period of time
• Making spaces accessible: Local gardening opportunities can be particularly important for people who lack confidence, mobility or means to travel further afield. Projects that can make spaces and activities more accessible to new audiences such as through adaptations or training to help achieve this
• Creating community interest, purpose or cohesion: Gardening projects can be effective at bringing people together to take on local causes such as a campaign to improve an area. They can break down barriers by providing safe spaces for people to interact however they choose to do so, and are a great way of introducing new audiences to taking part

Applications are now closed for the RHS Connected Communities Grant.

• 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 unsuccessful
• 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 Connected Communities 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 Connected Communities 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 Connected Communities 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.