Wessex Water Foundation Environment Fund

Which organisations are eligible for funding?

You can apply for a grant if you are based and working in the area served by Wessex Water and are a:

• voluntary or community group with charitable aims
• registered charity
• not-for-profit or Community interest Company (see additional notes)
• town or parish council (project must have community benefit)
• school (project must have community benefit)

Please note: This programme is only open to organisations that have an annual income of less than £500,000. It is targeted at organisations where a small amount of money can make a significant difference so we will also consider your access to other sources of funding and prioritise where it can make the biggest impact.

Previous Grants

You cannot apply to the Wessex Water Environment Fund if:

• you are currently receiving Partners Programme funding from Wessex Water.
• your organisation has received a Wessex Water Community Fund grant since December 2022.

Your organisation must have:

• an active voluntary management committee with at least three people who are not:
  • related to each other or in a long-term relationship
  • living at the same address

Your organisation needs the following financial arrangements and documents:

• a bank account with two signatories that are not related to each other
• less than 12 months running costs in unrestricted reserves. This means in your end of year financial accounts, Unrestricted reserves (not including Designated funds) must be less than your Expenditure
• financial records or accounts
• a recent bank statement
• a constitution
• a financial plan or budget showing this year's expected income, expenditure and reserves. If you do not have these we will discuss this with you when you apply.
• a Safeguarding Policy and an Equal Opportunities Policy. Again, if you do not have these we will discuss this with you when you apply. Further guidance is available here

If you are a new or informal group and cannot provide the above, you can apply under the umbrella of another charitable organisation provided it is able to:

• supply the above documents
• take responsibility for the application being made
• take responsibility for receiving, overseeing and reporting back on the use of any grant awarded

Additional notes for CICs

If your group is a community interest company or not-for-profit company, you will need to have at least three Directors who are unrelated individuals AND the majority must be acting in an unpaid capacity i.e. not employed by or receiving payment from the company. CICs limited by shares are not eligible.

What types of projects are eligible for funding?

You can apply for a grant for:

• towards core costs and/or project costs that will help you to make improvements to the local environment. 

For example, you can apply for a grant towards equipment, salaries and/or overheads. What’s important is that it will help achieve one or more of the above outcomes and meet at least one of the above priorities. 

At the end of this guide there is an Extra Guidance section. This includes a link to information for practical projects to undertake when working near protected sites or species.

Examples of previous grants funded by the programme:

• To restore and maintain a wildlife pond
• To install a recycling station and provide litter picking equipment for a youth club
• Towards a community tree planting event
• Installation of a rainwater harvesting solution and irrigation system for a community garden
• Creating wildflower areas on underused land in a village
• Kits for local residents to take part in a water quality survey of the River Avon
• Dung beetle surveys to assess prey availability for Greater Horseshoe Bats

What we don’t fund:

• Water refill points
• General landscaping and planting
• Applications from individuals
• National organisations (independent branches can apply)
• Animal welfare (except activities that directly relate to improving local biodiversity)
• One-off events

Extra Guidance

When submitting applications for projects involving practical work, please make sure you have checked whether your proposals could affect protected sites or species and demonstrate in your application how this has been accounted for. There is further guidance on the Wessex Water website.

Full criteria and more details of the application process and what happens next is available here,

A copy of the questions on the application is available to view here along with guidance on completing the form.