Sustainable Steps Wales - Egin Grants

The group making the application must have received mentoring from Egin and completed an Action plan. If you are interested in being mentored please contact Egin - www.egin.org.uk

We can fund groups that have at least three unrelated people on their board or committee.

Your group will need a UK bank account or building society account be in the legal name of your organisation, with 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.

Your group should be one of the following:

• 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 councils (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)

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 three unrelated members, aged 18 years or over.

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 grants will help groups who are receiving support from Egin to kick start their ideas.

Groups we will fund will have completed an action plan and be ready to take forward one or more of their ideas. If you are interested in being mentored please contact Egin - www.egin.org.uk

We will 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.
• projects that do not focus strongly enough on climate change, even if there will be broad benefits for your community or to people’s wellbeing.
• projects where the community has not been engaged in developing the idea.

If your project is focused on wellbeing you may prefer to apply to our People and Places programme or to our National Lottery Awards for All programme.

We are offering grants, normally up to £15,000, to cover capital and revenue costs.

Revenue costs might include project staff salaries, volunteer expenses, transport, translation costs and learning and evaluation costs.

Capital costs might include buying equipment, refurbishing or developing land and building or other construction-related works.

For land and building projects you will need provide us with the following:

• 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 can fund electric vehicle costs. You can read guidance on funding for vehicles for more information.

We will fund projects usually for up to 12 months.

We can fund part of your project, or, up to 100% of your project.

We will normally fund costs of £15,000 or less.

We cannot fund:

• campaigning - see more below
• 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 - see more below
• 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.