Guidance to develop your full proposal for Climate Action Fund - Energy and climate

When developing your full proposal, you should refer to our criteria and priorities for this fund.

If you are applying to Climate Action Fund – Our Shared Future, you should refer to our guidance to develop your full proposal for Our Shared Future.

Considering your environmental impact

We're committed to helping you protect the environment. You can check our guidance on reducing your environmental impact.

Our Climate Action Hub also has information about our approach to tackling the climate emergency, including learning and insights, stories and funding.

Equality, diversity and inclusion in your project

You should also consider equity, diversity and inclusion when designing and running your project. You should remember to reflect this in all the answers in your full proposal. You can get more information by checking the equity principles on our website.

How to submit your full proposal

There are five steps you should take to submit your full proposal:

step 1 – respond to our questions
step 2 – complete the project budget with income projections
step 3 – create a project plan
step 4 - gather your latest annual accounts
step 5 - fill out an online form where you’ll answer more questions about your project and organisation. We’ll also ask you to upload the documents you create in steps 1 to 4 at this stage.

Step 1 – respond to our questions

You’ll need to prepare the answers to these questions in a word document (or similar). You should then upload the document you create as a PDF when you get to ‘Step 5’.

There are word limits for each question. We cannot guarantee that we will read text that goes beyond the word limits. We will not accept annexes such as research papers or evaluation documents unless we’ve specifically asked for them.

You need to tell us:

1. What's your vision and long-term goals for your project?

You should tell us about:

your overall vision for the project

the project activities and its expected outcomes

the evidence you have gathered to show the project and its approach are what’s needed

how your activities will be sustainable after the funding period ends.

You can write up to 600 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

2. Where and how will your project work?

You should tell us about:

where the project will happen – including whether it is rural, urban or coastal

who will be involved – including how many people and if there are any particular groups of people you’re looking to work with

the specific issues the community faces around climate change and addressing its carbon footprint

how your project responds to any government objectives, local plans or priorities

any other relevant climate action projects that have taken place in your area

any challenges you expect to face and how you will overcome them.

You can write up to 800 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

3. How will you work with others to deliver your project?

You should tell us:

how you will engage with and support communities, organisations or groups you’re working with (or those you hope to work with).

Who might you need to help you achieve the aims of your project?

If you are applying as a partnership (a few groups working together towards a shared goal, where they all receive some of the money from the grant and have responsibility for delivering parts of the project)

You should tell us:

who will be involved in your partnership - for all organisations, you should include:

the legal status of their organisation – you can [find out what types of organisations are eligible to apply on our website]

the name of a main contact – including their job role, and details of their role in the partnership.

how the partnership (if you have a partnership) will be governed – for example, with a partnership agreement

how the partnership has come together

what each partner will be responsible for doing.

You can write up to 600 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

4. How will the project put communities first?

Find out what we mean by putting communities first.

You should tell us:

how the community is involved in the design, development and delivery of the project

who you have spoken to in the development of this project

how the project responds to what the community needs and supports what’s important to them. .

You can write up to 600 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

5. How will you measure and evaluate the project?

You should tell us:

how you will measure and report on the difference you are making. Before your respond, read the “what to expect from us section” below to understand our approach to learning and evidence gathering.=.

what are the changes you expect to see.

For example, you could measure:

behaviour change and shifts in attitudes

participation and engagement

carbon reductions.

You can write up to 500 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

6. How will you learn and share what you learn?

We expect you to have an engagement plan so you can tell others about what you’re doing and learning. Before your respond, read the “what to expect from us section” below to understand our approach to learning.

You should tell us:

how you will set up a regular process of learning about the project and about the partnership, if relevant.

how you will make sure this learning is shared on time, and as widely as possible

about your methods, audiences and approach

how will you increase participation in the learning process

what experience the organisations in your partnership (if you have one, if not go to the next question) have of generating and sharing learning

what support you would need from us to help you learn and share what you learn – for example in leadership, technical or evaluation.

You can write up to 500 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

7. How will you reach more people?

Where possible, we want the projects we fund to engage with people beyond those already taking climate action.

We also want to know how you’ll try to involve people and communities who are likely to be hardest hit by climate change, in both the development and delivery of the project. We know this will mean different things to different people and communities.

You should tell us:

what your plans are to engage new audiences and get more people in your community involved in the project

if you will measure who is and isn’t involved in your work

about what experience you and your partners (if you have partners) have in making changes to increase participation and engagement

how you will you make sure the benefits of the project go beyond your own community – including what experience you or your partners have of doing this.

You can write up to 500 words for this section, but do not worry if you use fewer.

Step 2 – complete the project budget with income projections

We’ve sent you a budget template by email. You need to complete this, save it as a PDF and upload it when you get to ‘Step 5’.

Your budget should include:

a realistic, full project budget broken down by year including:

how much will go to any partners (if you have a partnership, if not go to the next question)

other funding you have or are looking for (including any decisions you are waiting to hear about)

details of job roles funded through the project, including:

the number and length of roles

whether they are already in post or will be recruited

which partner will recruit them (if applicable).

details of any services that will be procured and their value. In other words, any activities or services that will not be delivered by a named partner (if applicable)

time and cost for you and any project partners (if you have a partnership) to reflect and learn throughout the project

When you design and develop your budget, you must consider the time and resource required to have an active role in the programme level activities outlined in the “what to expect from us” section.

Depending on the type and size of your project, you should allocate at least one to two days per month to engagement. It’s important to build this into your plans and budgets.

Step 3 – create a project plan

You need to complete a project plan, save it as a PDF and upload it when you get to ‘Step 5’.

You can upload the plan in whatever format suits you best. Written plans should be no longer than 1,000 words.

We want to understand what will be delivered and when, including:

a timeline of main project activities

project milestones, outcomes and outputs

which partners will do what, and when, if applicable

Step 4 - gather your annual accounts

You need to get your latest annual accounts, save them as a PDF and upload it when you get to ‘Step 5’.

Step 5 – fill out an online form and upload your documents

We’ll send you a link to an online form by email. You do not need to do it all in one go. You can save it and come back to it if you need to.

In the form we’ll ask you for information including your:

organisation details

project details

main and senior contact details – including dates of birth and home addresses

· supporting documents including your:
- responses to our questions - listed in ‘Step 1’
- project plan - described in ‘Step 2’
- budget with income projections – described in ‘Step 3’
- latest annual accounts – described in ‘Step 4’
- governing document (if you’re not a charity or statutory body).

What to expect from us

The Climate Action Fund is a 10-year a £100m commitment to inspire and support communities to take climate action. It was established as an adaptive programme, committed to generating and sharing learning and evidence in real time. Our key learning priority is to build a strong case for the role of community-led climate change and inspire community-led action across the UK and beyond.

Learning Together

We offer opportunities for development and co-learning to all the projects we fund through the Climate Action Fund. We offer opportunities for development and co-learning to all the projects we fund through the Climate Action Fund.

Successful projects will join a group of community lead, local and UK-wide projects. These projects share an ambition, commitment, and determination to inspire communities to take climate action and adopt environmentally friendly behaviours. Helping them to shape a sustainable future and improve people’s lives.

Supported by learning partners we organise quarterly (online) events, coffee mornings and networking sessions to create connections and share good practice. As part of the group, you’ll be expected to take part and contribute to these events. Please set aside resources for this (e.g. time, budget, and expectations of roles).

Evidence Gathering

We’re committed to sharing evidence and learning generated by the programme with grant holders across the Fund, communities, policy makers and the wider sector including other funders.

Given the wide variety of projects we fund, we have not taken a prescriptive approach to evidence gathering and evaluation. But, we expect all funded projects to have comprehensive plans in place to measure and report on the difference they are making.

· Once a year, we‘ll ask for some consistent information of all projects about your aims and activities (key monitoring indicators). These will be both quantitative and qualitative and will provide insight into what community-led climate action looks like across the programme.
Twice a year we’ll ask you to tell us how your project’s going - including what you’re learning and the difference your community-led action is making.
Throughout your project, we‘ll ask you to take part in targeted research on priority topics, questions or themes. For example, research and sharing of learning on specific subject areas such as transport, local authority engagement, equality diversity and inclusion practices.

Inspiring Others

We’ll provide training opportunities, tools and resources to support you shape your story of change and enable you to reach out to diverse audiences and inspire others to take action.

As part of a group of projects, you’ll be working with Communications experts to support the case studies and story about the role communities can play in tackling climate change.

When you design and develop your budget you must consider the time and resource required to have an active role in the programme level activities outlined above to make sure that you make the most of this offer.

Depending on the type and size of your project, you should allocate at least one to two days per month to engagement. It’s important to build this into your plans and budgets.

Other things we consider when we assess your application

If you’re applying for a development grant

climate and nature only

We’re offering smaller development grants to applicants who need time to develop their partnership, engage more widely or test their approaches.

You can apply for a development grant of between £50,000 and £150,000. Development grants can fund projects for 12 to 18 months.

Getting a development grant does not guarantee that you will get longer-term funding afterwards.

We may not have enough funding to offer full grants to all projects that get a development grant. If you get a development grant, you should look for other longer-term funding from sources other than the Climate Action Fund.

What to do about partnership agreements

If your project involves a partnership, you do not need to send a partnership agreement to us with this application. But we’ll need to see this if we give you a grant.

All partnerships will be different depending on the partners and how they agree to work together. Each partnership should be able to demonstrate collective skills, experience, capacity and commitment to deliver the project.

They should also have:

an agreement for how key decisions should be made and communicated

clearly set out and agreed roles and responsibilities for each partner.

We accept two legal structures for partnerships including:

a lead partner organisation – who enters into partnership agreements with third parties, who become sub grantees

a group of organisations who work together.

We’ll need legally binding written agreements

If we fund a lead partner, we need legally binding written agreements to be in place between the partners. These must set out the roles and responsibilities and ensure our terms and conditions are adhered to by all partners. We do not create or review agreements for third parties.

If we fund a group of organisations, we expect each grant holder to be subject to our terms and conditions. We'd also expect a memorandum of understanding between the partners which sets out expectations about roles, responsibilities and governance arrangements, including the role of The National Lottery Community Fund.

Tell us about any existing partnership arrangement in your application

If a partnership structure is already in place, you should tell us in your application. We want to know about the existing arrangements in place (legally enforceable or otherwise). If necessary, we might need enhancements to the current arrangements or new legal relationships.

Template partnership agreement

We can give you a partnership agreement template, or you can create your own. The template may be helpful if you have one lead partner — the partner who gets all of the funding and passes some of it on to the other partners.

Our template is for guidance only and we cannot give you legal advice. You should get your own legal advice before signing any agreement if you’re unsure. If you would like this template, you should ask your Portfolio Officer.