Our Sustainable Communities Fund has been created to support local regeneration and sustainable development. 

The Fund comprises two grant programmes – Community Capacity Grants and Environment Grants.  Up to £750,000 will be made available over three years.

Community Capacity Grants

This programme will provide early stage financial support for community enterprise projects that contribute to local regeneration and sustainable development, and, ultimately, help create great places to live, work and visit. 

The fund is open to all communities up to five miles from Scotland’s coastline or within five miles of our rural estates. 

We are looking for local projects with demonstrable community support that will :     

• Contribute to the regeneration of places through improvements to buildings or community spaces, making these places more attractive, accessible and beneficial to the community
• Help create self-sustaining community enterprises that will promote sustainable development through the provision of local economic, social, and/or environmental benefits

In the first year, a total of £150,000 of funding will be available for grants of between £10,000 and £50,000.

Applications are being managed by Foundation Scotland and further information and details of how to apply can be found here. 

Queries should be sent to grants@foundationscotland.org.uk.

Environment Grants

This programme will provide funding to Crown Estate Scotland tenants for projects on the Scottish Crown Estate which can deliver demonstrable environmental benefits within 18 months of award of funds. 

Typical projects could include:

• Initiatives to increase local biodiversity;
• Making the local environment more attractive through, for example, planting and landscaping etc;
• Facilitating a change to greener ways of operating e.g. measures to support recycling or waste reduction; enabling green travel; activities that reduce flood risk, pollution or carbon emissions; and
• Materials providing information e.g. display boards about the local environment.

Projects which can demonstrate wider community benefits as well as environmental benefits are encouraged. 

In the first year £100,000 of funding is available, with individual grants of £5,000 - £20,000.

The programme is open to Crown Estate Scotland tenants and applicants must have an agreement with us at the point of application and when monies are awarded (February 2021).

The deadline for the latest round of applications passed on 2 November 2020, and the fund is not currently accepting applicants. 

Our application form can be found below. Please note that it can be signed digitally and returned, or by hand and returned as a scanned copy. For more information on how digital signing works, please see this article.

To apply, complete and return the form to environmentgrants@crownestatescotland.com. Queries should also be sent to this address.

Further information is available in the Environment Grants Guidance document, which can also be found below.

Environment Grant documents

• Application form 192.56 KB
• Guidance document 160.08 KB