Welcome a bit of the outdoors into your life
Our grant making is at the core of our work, because we believe that anyone can find their place, purpose and potential on the land. Our grants break down barriers to learning outdoors, support schools with their own programmes and help grow a more environmentally-engaged society.
Outdoor Essentials Grant
The small grant that goes a long way… our Outdoor Essentials Grant helps remove barriers and enable school children to connect to nature and learn outdoors. For some this means enhancing “nature on the doorstep” with improvements to their own grounds or areas in their local communities. For others it means help with transport costs to Outdoor Learning sites, or helping buy wellies and waterproofs. Some schools use this Grant for training to help equip teachers with the skills and confidence to embed Outdoor Learning into the curriculum.
An award of £500 is offered to primary and special schools and a double award (£1000) for secondary schools.
This funding is offered in rounds – the next application window will be announced here.
Communities Grant
The land is for all of us – including those who find it harder to access. Our Communities Grant is similar to the Outdoor Essentials Grant, but for charities and non-profit organisations that support young people (11-19 years old) to enjoy the outdoors and connect with nature. This might in be community green spaces, especially for outdoor learning, or through transport and clothing.
We offer £500 for each organisation, and this grant is a place-based offer focusing on organisations located within Glos (GL) Swindon (SN) and Bristol (BS) postcodes.
This funding is offered in rounds – the next application window will be announced here.
Outdoor Learning Leader Grant
We know that inspirational role models are key to helping young people form lasting connections with the natural environment. That’s why this grant is available to charities and non-profit organisations in specific areas of the UK to help fund an outdoor learning leader. These roles are so important to encourage young people to enjoy the outdoors, to educate communities about land and biodiversity, and to help cultivate and grow respect for the local environment.
This grant is for up to £20,000 for up to 3 years, funding outdoor learning leaders in specific postcodes and catchment areas of the UK.
This funding is offered in rounds – the next application window will be announced here.
The OWL Collaboration
We are so proud of our collaboration with Outdoor Learning and funding partners to create the OWL (Outdoor Week of Learning) Collaboration. This is a £2.8million funding-plus project led by the Trust that helps young people experience an immersive and transformative week of Outdoor Learning.
These weeks are a unique opportunity to explore nature, whilst living and learning together. We see a stronger connection to nature, greater care and concern for the environment, better mental health and wellbeing, and more engagement in learning.
Our Outdoor Learning partners for this scheme, who are located around the UK, are:
Blue Influencers Scheme
Bright futures flow from bright young minds, and our influencer schemes allow young people to engage in the issues facing their landscapes and communities. For young people living in coastal, river and estuary communities, these include climate change, flooding, and coastal erosion – as well as challenges facing coastal economies.
This 3-year scheme (2023 – 2026) is joint-funded by the #iwill Fund – made possible thanks to a £66million joint investment from the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities. The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match-funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund.
This funding supports 22 Blue Mentor posts, based in host organisations across England, who then empower 4,000+ Blue Influencers and 15,000+ community volunteers.
