Scotland: National Rural Network
Connecting Rural Scotland - Promoting Rural Growth

Name of Fund: The Prince's Countryside Fund

Brief description of fund

The Prince's Countryside Fund has three goals:

• To improve the sustainability of British farming and rural communities, targeting the areas of greatest need
• To reconnect consumers with countryside issues

• To support farming and rural crisis charities through a dedicated emergency funding stream

The Fund is described as the Prince of Wales' brainchild and is a unique collaboration of brands and businesses working together to secure a sustainable future for British agriculture and the wider rural economy. 

What activities does it fund?

The Prince's Countryside Fund will provide funding towards projects operating in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland that clearly contribute towards one or more of its charitable objectives and fit within their focus areas.

Charitable objectives

• The conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment in farming and/or rural areas
• The advancement of education in all matters relating to farming and/or rural areas
• The prevention or relief of poverty in farming and/or rural areas
• The advancement of health in farming and/or rural areas

• The promotion, for the benefit of the public, of any charitable purposes and in particular charitable purposes connected with rural regeneration in areas of social and economic deprivation throughout the UK by all or any of the following means: the relief of financial hardship; the advancement of education, training or retraining, particularly among unemployed people, and providing people with work experience; the provision of financial assistance to promote employment opportunities in farming and/or rural areas

Focus areas

• Projects to improve the sustainability of British farming in areas of deprivation
• Projects to improve the sustainability of rural communities
• Projects to reconnect people with the countryside

You can find out more in the Funding policy and criteria for eligibility.

Examples of projects that have received funding

The fund is currently supporting three projects, with funds set aside for their Emergency Fund to be used in times of crisis. The three projects currently being funded are:

• Pub is the Hub - Pub is the Hub is the only national advisory body working directly with licensees, and linking up with both private and public sector partners, to support rural regeneration objectives. It acts as a catalyst to encourage rural licensees and communities to work together in support of their local needs, being concerned with the retention or return of services felt essential to their area. The Prince's Countryside Fund is helping Pub is the Hub to expand into Wales.
• The Farmer Network -  The Farmer Network is a not for profit organisation operating in a variety of ways to improve the sustainability of farms in Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales. The Prince's Countryside Fund will be funding the Hill Farming Succession Fund. The scheme will train eight people over a two year period in hill farming skills, gaining experience and being mentored by four-six different farms in a local valley. Five farmers from the target valleys will also receive training to ensure they are able to carry out some of the relevant training, act as mentors and help to educate the public and agency staff.
• Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Service - The Prince's Countryside Fund is delighted to enable UTASS to continue with the essential services and support they provide to farmers. In particular, farmers have highlighted their worries and concerns surrounding the increasing levels of complex paperwork they have to complete and the associated penalties if the slightest of errors are made on forms. UTASS have received funding to help them deliver this kind of support to over 450 hill farming businesses and to provide basic IT training to 24 farmers in the area to help them deal with the paperwork in a more efficient way and manage their businesses more effectively.

How much funding is available to applicants?

 The total amount of funding available will vary from round to round, but will be made clear on the Prince's Countryside Fund website. The Fund can pay for a portion or the entirety of the costs of a project, as either a one-off grant or as ongoing support. The Fund will consider applications for match funding in order to support a bid for other grants that meet the Fund's objective. Projects wholly dependent on the Fund for over three years will not be supported.

If you are requesting at least £25,000 from the Fund, or where the sum applied for is 50 percent or more of the overall cost of a project, the project team must be able to demonstrate to the Board of Trustees that they have investigated alternative sources of funding and that alternative funding is not available.

Who can apply?

 Applications will be accepted from organisations, but not from individuals. Applicants can be, but do not need to be, charities. All applicants must be able to clearly demonstrate a significant level of public benefit arising from their activities. Any private benefit must be incidental.

Is there a deadline?

The Prince’s Countryside Fund has identified the three initial projects it will support and will be reviewing when the next grants will be made in the autumn. If you would like to be alerted when the Fund is open to receive applications, please sign up to receive their newsletter.

Who do I contact?

• Nichola.Cook@bitc.org.uk
• You can find more information on the Prince's Countryside Fund website, particularly in their Grant Giving Policy.