Royal Countryside Fund launches new grant programme for rural communities
January 10, 2025
The Royal Countryside Fund (RCF), the charity focused on the unique issues facing farming and rural communities, has launched a new grant programme for rural community organisations. Community-led organisations can now apply for a grant of up to £25,000, paid over a period of 24 months.
The new, UK-wide grant programme from the RCF opens for applications on the 10th January 2025 and organisations have until the 21st February 2025 to apply for funding to create tangible change in their community. To apply, organisations will need to send a short video and complete a simple ‘Expression of Interest’ form on the RCF website. In these videos applicants should let the RCF know who they are, what they aim to do, why their project is needed and how it will help their community. Applicants should also set out how their project meets the RCF’s funding priorities.
The RCF’s grant programme is focused on supporting projects that:
- Help keep young people in the countryside
- Power-up rural communities
- Increase environmental sustainability
- Build emergency resilience in rural areas
Just over 17% of the population (10 million people) live in rural areas in England, according to UK government figures. The figure for Scotland is similar (17%), but the figures are higher in in Northern Ireland (36%), and in Wales where 21% of the population live in small villages or hamlets with a population of less than 5,000. Rural depopulation, particularly of younger people, continues to be a major threat to these communities across the UK.
Keith Halstead, Executive Director, RCF, said: “Rural communities are facing immense economic and social uncertainty across the UK. In some areas, the aging of the rural population and the lack of opportunities for younger people are threatening the very future of these communities. There are no easy solutions, but we want to find and fund innovative initiatives that can ‘power up’ rather than ‘prop up’ these places. We want to work directly with community-led organisations who are tackling the local issues they face by giving them the funding they need to bring their project to fruition.”
Projects must be community-led and will need to demonstrate that they actively listen to, and understand, the needs of their community. All applicants for this latest programme must be a properly constituted, community-led organisation based in a rural area with a turnover of less than £500,000.
To date, the RCF has invested more than £12 million in over 500 rural community-led projects.
For full eligibility details, please see the RCF website here.
