The Grants Team

The Wildlife Trusts have helped clients in the public, civil society, and private sectors to successfully distribute more than £300 million of funding to good causes across the UK.  

Our dedicated Grants Team has more than 25 years' experience managing multi-million-pound programmes on behalf of funders with a huge variety of grantees, both within and outside the environment sector.  

We take the administration burden from you so that as a funder, you can concentrate on funding strategy. 

Our skilled grants team can support funders through all stages of the grants process. 

Some of the services that we provide 

• Development of bespoke application forms, guidance documents and grants processes 

• An online application portal 

• Provision of advice and guidance to applicants on eligibility and supporting them through the application process 

• Due diligence checks on grantees 

• Review and assessment of applications, claims and reports  

• Distribution of funds to grantees 

• Contracting independent evaluators  

• Providing reports on funding distributed so that you can understand your impact 

If you are a funder and are interested in learning how The Wildlife Trusts can help you, please contact Cath Hare, Head of Grants 

email: chare@wildlifetrusts.org 
Telephone: 01636 670083 
Mobile: 07833 017 167 

Martin Gilchrist, Principal Adviser, Tackling Barriers to Nature, Natural England

At Natural England we are delivering solutions for people and planet. We can provide our expertise, evidence and partnership building skills, working with government, organisations and local people to recover nature  together, on land and sea.

The Wildlife Trusts were the lead grant recipient for the Nature Friendly Schools project, part of the Children and Nature Programme. The programme was funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and administered by Natural England. It was underpinned by HM Government’s (2018) 25 Year Environment Plan, which pledged to improve children’s physical and mental health by bringing them ‘close to nature, in and out of school.’

The programme was delivered against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time the project successfully achieved the project aim of supporting schools in disadvantaged areas to bring children closer to nature and support their health and wellbeing (The project supported 179 schools to embed time in nature as part of the school day for the benefits it can bring). This is due in no small part to the leadership, flexibility and pragmatism of the Wildlife Trust during this time.

Fundamental to the success of the project was the message that learning in nature not just learning about nature is key to support children and young people at school. The Wildlife Trust were articulate advocates for this message and for a whole school approach that ensured that time in nature met school priorities whatever they may have been - and was simple and easy for teachers to include in their regular teaching practice

Take a look at some of our recent and current programmes: 

• Biffa Award Building Communities. Transforming Lives. £198 million distributed to more than 3,500 community and environmental projects in the last 26 years. 

• National Highways’ £11.5 million Network for Nature programme delivering habitat creation and enhancements through 51 projects across 24 different Wildlife Trusts. 

• The National Heritage Fund’s £5 million Nextdoor Nature programme. Wildlife Trusts across the UK have been awarded funding to provide people with the advice and support they need to help nature on their doorstep, and leave a lasting natural legacy to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.  

• The National Lottery Community Fund’s £33 million Our Bright Future programme. Completed in 2022, this seven-year programme engaged more than 128,000 young people in environmental activities through 31 different projects across the UK. 

• Defra, DfE & Natural England’s £3.8 million Nature Friendly Schools project provided transformational outdoor learning opportunities to more than 46,000 children in England through 10 delivery partners.