The Crane Valley Grant Programme

We have now launched the final round of the Community Fund – please find more information below.

What is it?

The Crane Valley Grant Programme is part of Thames Water’s Smarter Water Catchments initiative.  The programme recognises that grassroots, community, environment and conservation groups are uniquely placed to carry out works and projects and the fund can bring a wide range of benefits, including those contained within the River Crane Smarter Water Catchment Plan and it’s update.

The fund aims to ensure that benefits of the programme are enjoyed by all communities in the Crane Valley area, and that, alongside physical works, elements such as education, awareness raising, research and development, organisational costs and feasibility of the projects are also supported. For more information on the River Crane Smarter Water Catchment please see the Thames Water and Crane Valley Partnership websites.

The programme includes two funds:

• The Crane Valley Community Fund
  
• The Crane Valley Project Fund

What kind of Funding are you looking for?

There are two different funding streams on The Crane Valley Grant Programme:

The Community Fund:

Small, community-based grants of up to £3,000 for small catchment-based initiatives.

The Project fund:

Larger, project grants of between £3,001 and £100,000 for higher impact projects that deliver against the 12 Smarter Water Catchment Initiatives.

Community Fund

The Community Fund offers small grants of up to £3,000 to cover organisational costs such as field equipment, PPE, operational services and training, promotional materials, site infrastructure and events. It aims to deliver a range of environmental and associated community benefits throughout the Crane Valley and has been devised in response to local community groups requesting a source of small-scale funding to support their activities. It provides support to the existing work of groups as well as smaller projects. A (non-exhaustive) list of items groups may apply for is listed in Appendix 1.

The following groups are eligible:

• Educational Establishment
• Religious Organisation
• Local Authority
• Registered Charity
• Informal or un-constituted group*
• Company Limited by Guarantee
• Not for Profit Community Interest Company (CIC)
• Social Enterprise
• Constituted Community Organisation
• Friends of Group
• Tenants and Residents Association

We may also be able to fund other organisations where the key objectives are related to the public interest.

Applications can be submitted up to Monday, 18th November 2024 with awards being made at two intervals during the application window. The dates of these and timelines for decisions are set out below in the ‘How to Apply’ section.

Please Note:

• All grant monies awarded through the Community Fund must be spent by 28^th February 2025.
• We will hold short mid-project calls after three months of award to check progress, and to see if we can support you in any way.
• You will be required to provide evidence of expenditure with your final monitoring. Where this is not received in part or in full, we may seek to reclaim any awarded monies.

Timeline

Milestone	Date
Applications Open	Tuesday, 28th May 2024
First deadline for assessment	Monday, 24th June 2024
Second deadline for assessment	Monday, 2nd September 2024
Final deadline for assessment	Monday, 18th November 2024
Deadline for reporting	Friday, 28th Feburary 2025

How to apply to the Community Fund:

• First, please review all programme documentation found on this page.
• To access the Community Fund application form, please follow the ‘Apply for the Community Fund’ link below to complete the eligibility checker. If you are eligible, you will be presented with the link to the application.
• Please note that you can only complete the checker once, so if you have lost the link please let us know and we can help you with this.
• Please either register on our application portal if you have not applied for a grant with us before, or please use your existing log in details if you have.
• Complete the application on the portal. Please ensure you regularly save your application. You will receive a confirmation when you have successfully submitted your application.

Project Fund

The Crane Valley Project Fund offers grants of between £3,001 and £100,000. Funding is available to projects that will help to deliver actions that are set out within the River Crane Smarter Water Catchment Plan and Update, including the 12 Smarter Water Catchment benefits set out on page 29 of the Plan (please note these are two documents). The Smarter Water Catchments benefits are:

• Developing partnership resilience and capacity
• Reducing pollution/improving water quality
• Creating/enhancing habitat
• Improving water flow
• Reducing flood risk
• Protecting heritage
• Improving public access and/or site connectivity
• Promoting health and well-being
• Reducing carbon footprint
• Delivering economic benefits
• Raising awareness and support
• Promoting community engagement

The activities and projects that could be supported through this fund are wide-ranging. There are no limits on categories of cost (capital, resource etc.), but all projects should meet at least three of the benefits outlined above. We are looking for projects that fit into one of the following categories:

• Feasibility – an assessment of the practicality of carrying a project, looking at the strengths and weaknesses or different approaches.
• Implementation and Delivery – carrying out activities based on a project plan, to achieve specific outcomes.
• Education and Engagement – raising knowledge and awareness of environmental needs in the area, and encouraging behaviour change in the wider community.
• Research and Development – carrying out work which will allow for innovative or new approach to challenges in the Crane Valley.

This year, there will be one application round of the Project Fund. All grant monies awarded through the Project Fund must be spent by 28th February 2025.

Timeline:

Timeline
Application Open for Project Fund	Monday, 20th May 2024
Application deadline for assessment	Monday, 1st July 2024, 12 pm
Deadline for Reporting	Friday, 28th February 2025

How to apply to the Project Fund:

• Firstly, review all programme documentation found on this page first.
• To access the Project Fund application form, please follow the ‘Apply for the Project Fund’ link below to complete the eligibility checker. If you are eligible, you will be presented with the link to the application.
• Please note that you can only complete the checker once, so if you have lost the link please let us know and we can help you with this.
• Please either register on our application portal if you have not applied for a grant with us before, or please use your existing log in details if you have.
• Complete the application on the portal. Please ensure you regularly save your application. You will receive a confirmation when you have successfully submitted your application.

The Crane Valley Project Fund is now closed.

Programme Documentation

Please note that this documentation will be updated for each application round, but will give prospective applicants an idea of the questions that will be asked.

Application Workshops

There are no further application workshops planned. If you have queries regarding the application process, please contact us using the details below.

Questions?

Groundwork London is administering the Crane Valley Grants Programme on behalf of Thames Water and the Crane Valley Partnership.

If you have any questions please email cranevalleygrants@groundwork.org.uk or call the Groundwork London office on 020 7239 1390.

Please read all of the guidance documents, as there a number of ways in which we can support your application.

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