Community Action Fund

The FCC Community Action Fund provides grants of between £2,000 and £100,000 to not-for-profit organisations for amenity projects eligible under Object D and Object DA of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF).

Only applications for projects sited within 10 miles of an eligible FCC Environment waste facility can be accepted, you can check if you are located near an eligible site by following this link to the FCC Communities Foundation website and completing the pre-application eligibility check.

They will only accept applications for funding for projects based at the following:

• Village Halls and Community Centres
• Public Play Areas
• Publicly available Multi use games areas, skate parks and BMX tracks
• Sport and recreation grounds including pavilions and clubhouses with full public access
• Churches – community spaces only which are available for hire
• Nature Reserves
• Public gardens, parks, country parks and woodlands with at least dawn to dusk access
• Museums

Work must be situated at a single amenity/site only.

In all cases the site must be open and accessible to the general public. It should be somewhere where the general public can go, join, or use, for leisure or entertainment purposes.

They do no fund membership only facilities.

If your facility is not available every day for the public to use or hire, please contact them for advice before applying.

They will only fund costs which are specific and wholly attributable to a project’s delivery.

OBJECT D – PUBLIC PARK OR OTHER PUBLIC AMENITY

Work could include physical improvements to a facility, i.e. new windows, access improvements, refurbishment work or landscaping. Physical improvements cover a wide range of work, if you are unsure if your project would qualify, please contact them for advice.

Examples of projects eligible for funding under Object D:

• Replacement doors and windows in village hall or community centre;
• Provision of children’s play equipment in public open space;
• Construction of footpaths and cycleways in a public park;
• Providing all weather play surface for MUGA (multi use games area);
• Dipping platform and all weather paths at a local nature reserve;
• Provision of Skate Park.

OBJECT DA – CONSERVATION OR PROMOTION OF BIODIVERSITY

The focus of the project must be to undertake physical works that lead to the provision, conservation, restoration or enhancement of a natural habitat or the maintenance or recovery of a species in its natural habitat.

Examples of projects eligible for funding under Object DA

• Grazing Marsh management – grazing infrastructure, including fencing and livestock
  management equipment
• Reedbed management – contractors’ costs to install water control measures, drainage works and ditching
• Woodland management – Scrub and tree removal, provision of woodland management
  equipment

Costs which we will consider funding for both Object D and Object DA are limited to:

• Contractors
• Materials
• Capital items
• The cost of small items of equipment used by volunteers and staff to deliver the project

They can only accept applications from the following types or organisations:

• Registered Charity which operates a community facility
• A Church or Parochial Church Council
• A Parish or Town Council or a Management Committee or User Association acting on behalf of a Parish or Town Council
• A Local Authority
• A CASC Registered Sports Club

The FCC Community Action Fund is oversubscribed and they limit the types projects they will fund and what they will pay for.

To help you plan your application follow this link to the FCC Communities Foundation website and complete the pre-application eligibility check.

All their grants require applicants to secure a contributing third party (CTP) payment. This is a very specific payment required to be paid to the landfill operator and should not be confused with match funding.

Only applications for projects sited within 10 miles of an eligible FCC Environment waste facility can be accepted.

The scheduled funding rounds for the FCC Community Action Fund are as follows:

• 2025-4 Round – opens 3 September 2025 and closes at 5.00pm on 10 November 2025

The Board make funding decisions quarterly, approximately 16 weeks after the round closes.