Sustainable Steps Wales - Egin Grants

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We want to help community groups in Wales who are starting to take action on climate change and want to live in a more sustainable way. This funding will help groups who are receiving support from the Egin mentoring programme, to kick start their ideas.

Area
Wales
Suitable for
Groups which have received mentoring from Egin (the Sustainable Steps Wales - mentoring service) and have completed an action plan.
Funding size
£100 to £15000
Total available
£3.75 million over 5 years
Application deadline

Ongoing

Apply

How to apply

Contact us for an application form

To apply for this funding, you must have:

You can apply for funding up to £15,000. This funding is available with thanks to Dormant Assets Funding.

You can see a full list of questions from the application form.

What happens after you apply

  1. After you send us your application, we'll get back to you with a decision in around four weeks

    We’ll look at your idea and carry out checks on the information you provide us. You can find out more about the checks we'll carry out on your information.

    We might give you a call within those four weeks, to talk more about your idea or ask for more information.

    If your application is successful, we'll send you an email with the good news. Once you have sent us your bank statement, we’ll put the funding in your bank account within 14 days.

  2. You can start your project

    You will decide when you want to start your project, as long as it's within three months of the date when we offered the funding. If you are not sure you can talk to your funding officer about it. You should spend the funding the way you said you would in your application (unless we’ve agreed to something different first)

    We might check in from time to time – to see how things are going. You will be asked to read and agree to the terms and conditions of the funding.

  3. Share your story

    You can tell your local community, share your good news on social media, or get in touch with local newspapers. We’ll make a press announcement and share your story too.

    You can also download a logo to use to show you have Sustainable Steps Wales funding.
Who can apply

Who can apply

You can apply if one of your group is a:

  • registered charity
  • voluntary or community organisation
  • charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
  • co-operative society (if it has a not-for-profit clause)
  • company limited by guarantee (if it has a not-for-profit clause).
  • community interest company
  • community benefit society
  • unregistered voluntary or community organisation
  • town and community council (providing there is strong support from the community for the idea to be developed)
  • school (as long as your project benefits and involves the communities around the school)
  • faith-based group.

Partnerships from all sectors are welcome to apply, as long as the lead applicant is one of the organisation types listed above. Your organisation must have a management committee with at least two unrelated members, aged 18 years or over.

The group applying for funding must have:

  • received mentoring from the Egin mentoring programme
  • completed an action plan
  • at least two unrelated people on their board or committee, and
  • a UK bank account or building society account be in the legal name of your organisation. This must have at least two unrelated people who can manage the account.

By unrelated we mean people who are not:

  • related by blood to each other
  • married to each other
  • in a civil partnership with each other
  • in a long-term relationship with each other
  • living together at the same address.
The projects we'll fund

The projects we'll fund

We want to help community groups in Wales who are starting to take action on climate change and live in a more sustainable way. Our funding will help groups who are receiving support from Egin to kick start their ideas.

We'll fund a range of projects across Wales. For example, projects could relate to food, transport, energy or waste and consumption.

The main focus of your project should be about engaging with climate change and living in a more sustainable way.

But we would also like to know about the other benefits of your project. These could include things like improving people’s wellbeing, improving relationships between people and organisations, or improving biodiversity.

We want to fund projects that have thought about the impact their activities will have on nature and, where possible, limit anything that is damaging.

We want to fund projects that will share what they’ve learnt with others. We will fund organisations that want to learn, and plan to share what they learn with similar groups.

We are unlikely to fund

Projects that:

  • will not help people to change the way they respond to the climate emergency or living in a more sustainable way.
  • do not focus strongly enough on climate change, even if there will be broad benefits for your community or to people’s wellbeing.
  • have not involved the community to develop the idea.

If your project is focused on wellbeing you may prefer to apply to:

What you can spend money on

What you can spend the money on

We offer funding up to £15,000. We will fund projects for up to 24 months.

We can fund

  • part of your project or all of your project
  • capital costs
  • revenue costs.

Capital costs might include:

  • buying equipment
  • refurbishing or developing land and building or other construction-related works.

We can also fund electric vehicle costs. You can read our guidance on funding for vehicles (PDF, 950KB).

Revenue costs might include:

  • project staff salaries
  • volunteer expenses
  • transport
  • translation costs
  • learning and evaluation costs.

If you need funding for land or refurbishment projects

You'll need to provide:

  • documents that show you own the land or building, it can be freehold or leasehold. If your ownership is leasehold, the lease must be for a minimum of five years from the time you will complete the work you want to do and there must not be any break clauses in the lease document.
  • proof that all necessary consents for the development and/or use of the property have been obtained
  • evidence that a minimum of three estimates have been received from three independent builders.

We cannot fund

  • campaigning
  • alcohol
  • profit-making
  • VAT you can reclaim
  • activities that replace government funding (before you apply, you should research what support is already available)
  • political or religious activities
  • paying someone else to write your application.

We can fund some political activity and campaigning

But only if:

  • the activity is not party political. This means that it must be about policy, practice, or legislation rather than opposing or supporting a political party.
  • the activity is meant to help the cause of your organisation and benefit the public or society.

We will not fund projects where political activities are the main purpose. But we can fund projects that are mainly about campaigning.