Pioneering fund open for National Park community projects

The Cairngorms 2030 Communities Fund was designed by a group of people with a passion for the Cairngorms National Park and will run for the next two years.

People and organisations planning projects that strengthen communities, support nature and biodiversity, improve outdoor well-being, or help to respond and adapt to climate change across the National Park, are invited to apply for small grants of between £500 and £5,000.

Those who have not applied for funding before are particularly encouraged, with all decisions made within three weeks. The entire process – from eligibility criteria to application methods – was decided by a panel with a range of backgrounds and experiences.

Members recommended that a smaller forum be set up to make decisions on medium and large grants of up to £100,000. Recruitment is now underway, and successful applicants will be independently selected by public participation charity Involve.

Forum members will be paid for their time and supported by the Park Authority grants team. Once recruited, information on members will be available on the Park Authority website.

David Clyne, head of the Cairngorms 2030 programme, said: “Designing a fund from scratch is no mean feat, so it was great to see the panellists bring so much energy and enthusiasm to the task.

“What they’ve come up with is different to anything we’ve done before. The rolling small grants process aims to offer quick wins to community projects and I can’t wait to hear about the first successful applications – especially if they’re from people who’ve never been involved in something like this before.”

The panel met nine times during the spring and summer and decided to split the fund into three tiers of small (£500-£5000), medium ( £5,000-£50,000 ) and large grants (£50,000-£100,000)

The small grants fund is open now, with the medium and large funds open in November. For more details, and to apply for the grants forum, go to the CNPA website.