Grants of between £3,000 and £6,000 are available for a wide range of organisations in England, Scotland and Wales, including Community Interest Companies, for projects within a 3-mile radius of a Starbucks retail outlet to create new or enhance existing green spaces that will increase access to nature. Groups will be partnered with a local Starbucks store, who will support projects in a number of ways.
In particular, projects should promote community cohesion around nature and green spaces.
A map showing the location of Starbucks stores in Great Britain can be found on the Starbucks website. You can use Free Map Tools to draw a radius from any UK postcode.
The fund aims to support groups to create or enhance green spaces that bring people closer to nature and relate to any one or more of the following 4 themes:
- Bringing People Together – to bring people together and create community connections in/around a shared green space, such as community growing, plant sharing, coffee and chats or youth activities.
- Building Climate Resilience – to make an existing space more climate resilient and engaging the local community on climate issues, such as changes to buildings and urban spaces that increase resilience to heatwaves, drought, coastal flooding, or sea-level rise, while creating community connection in the green space.
- Increasing access – to bring green space to an area where there is limited access to nature, such as by creating or enhancing a community garden, a green roof, increasing biodiversity in an urban area, or other similar ideas, or to encourage a particular demographic who might not otherwise or rarely access an existing green space, and/or
- Upskilling the Community – to teach communities new skills and encourage health and well-being through spending time in green spaces, such as workshops and/or events taking place in green spaces, how-to guides on increasing nature connections, or training around nature-based activities.
The following funding is available:
- Nature Hubs Fund - groups can apply for a grant of up to £6,000 to set up or enhance community-led green spaces (groups who received other Hubbub funding such as Community Nature Fund and Food Hubs, Community Fridge funding may also apply).
- Top-up grants for existing Nature Hubs - if you have received Nature Hubs funding before you can apply for a top-up grant up to £3,000 for the same project site.
Grants of between £3,000 and £6,000 can be used for:
- Display materials, signage and information.
- Materials relating to the nature hub activity (such as plants, gardening equipment, tools, and paint).
- Services from external suppliers such as building labour costs and garden design.
- Staffing costs to cover the time spent planning and delivering any activity (please note that 75% of a grant may be put towards a salary, but 25% must relate directly to creating or enhancing a green space).
- Training.
- Utility costs that relate directly to the delivery of the project activity, such as power or water, and
- Volunteer expenses such as public transportation costs, materials, and refreshments for volunteering days.
Projects, which must be publicly accessible as well as free to access, should start in time for the 2025 Spring-summer growing season and be up and running within 6-months of receipt of grant funding. Applying organisations must be able to demonstrate that they have delivered previous projects successfully - experience of working with communities, access to a volunteering network, and strong storytelling/communication abilities are desirable. All projects should create a lasting, positive legacy and identify how the project will continue to beyond communities beyond the funding term.
Further information, guidance notes and an online application form can be found on the Hubbub Foundation UK website.
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 29 November 2024.
Successful applicants are expected to be notified by Friday 28 February 2025.