Green Roots Fund prospectus

We encourage collaboration and partnership working. Proposals from partnerships that build on the strengths of different organisations are welcome.  

A collaboration might be with: 

• private sector partners, such as with Business Improvement Districts 

• other not-for-profit organisations, such as landowning organisations and charities.  

When applying as a partnership, there must be a lead organisation. Other organisations in the partnership are 'delivery partners'.  

The lead organisation:

• will take overall responsibility for the delivery and management of the project
• must meet the 'Who can apply' criteria listed above
• must be clearly identified in the application as the lead organisation
• can only be lead organisation once per Round (this includes if the lead organisation is putting in an application on its own)
• can be a delivery partner for other applications in the same Round
• may apply as lead partner once per Round, whether successful or not in previous Rounds.

Delivery partners:

• can be delivery partners on multiple applications per Round
• will need to show that they can deliver on all successful applications on which they are listed as delivery partner (we will expect a letter of support acknowledging partnership in multiple applications and confirming ability to support them all).

The Green Roots Fund aims to deliver the following objectives:

1. Enhancement of green and blue infrastructure in London. This means projects should:
   • make London’s neighbourhoods healthier, more nature-rich and climate resilient
   • contribute to ensuring that all Londoners feel the benefits of more good quality nature that is better-connected, resilient, valued and accessible. 
2. Inclusion and involvement of Londoners in green and blue infrastructure. This means projects should:
   • contribute to ensuring that all Londoners can access green and blue infrastructure and its benefits
   • undertake work that makes Londoners feel welcome and comfortable in green and blue spaces, and involve a diverse range of Londoners in management and decision making.

We will use the following principles to make decisions on this Fund:

1. Evidence driven decisions. This means we'll require robust evidence to demonstrate need and prioritise projects, ensuring public funding is spent on projects that collectively deliver high impact for London.
2. Collaborative stewardship. This means we'll expect grantees to share learning and work together with communities and others to maximise impact. We also expect you to ensure appropriate measures are in place to sustain the impact in the longer term.

Your project could include implementation works such as:

• creation, improvement and/or restoration of green space, waterways, wetlands or other habitats
• rewilding
• tree planting
• species reintroduction
• climate adaptation measures such as projects for flood prevention and urban cooling.

Or it may be focused on enabling works such as: 

• community science, activation and outreach
• community micro-grant schemes 
• roll out of innovations in maintenance and management 
• feasibility studies 
• staff and volunteer training 
• baseline surveys 
• design work.

These are not exhaustive lists and your project could focus on other activities. The strongest projects are likely to include both implementation and enabling works.

Projects may be delivered in: 

• one or more locations
• existing green or blue spaces
• areas where there is currently little or no green infrastructure and you want to create it. 

All projects should seek to involve Londoners in planning, decision-making or managing funded activities, either in the short or long term. 

Projects should include provision for sharing learning to help all Londoners work towards the creation of a greener, more climate resilient city.

The Green Roots Fund will not support:  

• projects and activities that will not benefit members of the public
• projects that are not related to green or blue infrastructure
• projects that cannot be completed and reported on within two years
• private individuals
• routine maintenance
• one-off habitat management activities with no plan in place for appropriate long-term management
• activity that has already taken place, activity that takes place before a funding agreement has been issued or that is a continuation of existing work, unless the work proposed is a discrete project that is part of a wider programme
• works that are legally required of landowners or managers
• activity outside Greater London
• buying land (acquisition)
• core costs (for example existing staff or rent) that are not project specific.

Priority themes will be set for each Green Roots funding round.  

Themes will reflect the most up-to-date sector priorities and seek to stimulate action to address these priority needs.   

We'll share priority themes around three months before each application deadline.  This is to make sure that priority themes reflect current needs.

Applications that respond to these themes are likely to take precedence if they score highly in assessment, but projects that are not linked to a priority theme will still be supported if they meet the Green Roots Fund criteria. 

The process will be competitive, and high-quality applications – whether responding to priority themes or not – will stand the best chance of success.

Current priority themes

Clean and healthy waterways

This is a fixed priority theme throughout the Green Roots Fund. It reflects the Mayor’s commitment to creating clean and healthy waterways. One third of the Green Roots Fund will be allocated to waterways projects.

All projects will need to provide or secure at least 10 per cent match funding from alternative sources. This can be:

• in cash – for example, from another grant or from your own funds, or
• in kind – for example, donated materials, staff or volunteer time.

You do not need this fully secured when you submit your application. But we’ll need written confirmation of the secured funding before we release any payments.

You can use Green Roots funding itself as match funding against other funding to support larger and more ambitious projects.

However, where our funding is less than 60 per cent of the total project budget, we'll need:

• 75 per cent of other funding confirmed when you submit your application
• 100 per cent of other funding confirmed when you sign a grant agreement with the Greater London Authority (GLA).

You should calculate the value of volunteer time as follows:

• use the London Living Wage for “unskilled” volunteering. This is classed as a task that can be carried out with basic or no training 
• use a typical hour or daily rate for the task or profession, for volunteering time that relies on specialist skill.

Our funding can support a range of costs for your project, for example:

• materials
• plants
• small items of equipment
• staff costs
• travel and subsistence
• contractors and consultants
• marketing and publicity
• grants provided to end beneficiaries
• event costs
• volunteer expenses
• volunteer time
• tree care
• tree aftercare
• signage (please note, if successful you will be required to include signage to acknowledge funding where appropriate)
• monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Except for tree aftercare and overheads, we do not specify or place restrictions on how these costs must be split, as each project will be different. You should allocate your budget in a way that will effectively deliver your project.

If you need to claim overheads, you can include this in your budget  up to a maximum of fifteen per cent of project staff costs. For example, if your project staff costs are £10,000, your claimable overhead cost would be £1,500.

See the Deliverability and long term legacy section for information on tree aftercare restrictions.

The Green Roots Fund itself is not subject to VAT. If you are a VAT-registered organisation, you may encounter some costs that  incur VAT. If you are unable to claim this VAT back, you can include it as a cost within your budget. You will need to provide evidence of your VAT status to be eligible and demonstrate you were not able to claim it back.

You should consider how long your project will take from start to finish and include that timeframe in your application. This should include:

• preparatory work
• securing any permissions
• project implementation
• reporting.

You will need to submit project milestones, which will be your project plan, setting out key activities in your application.  

You should allow at least three months after the round deadline before activity starts on your project. We cannot fund activity that happens before we have decided to fund your project. 

You should not start your project before you have received a signed grant funding agreement from us. The agreement may contain conditions or requirements that impact your project timeline.

We can support projects for up to two years. Therefore, your project duration should be 24 months or less.

If your project involves physical work to one or more sites, we require project outputs to be maintained for a minimum of two years. This is to ensure your project’s benefits are maintained into the future.

These questions will check whether your organisation is eligible for this funding. It also lets assessors carry out due diligence checks, such as reviewing organisational accounts or cashflow.

This section is not scored, but all organisations must meet the eligibility criteria.

If you’re applying as a partnership, the lead organisation should complete this section as they will receive, and be responsible for, funding.

You will also need to tell us about any project partners. So, who else is involved and what their role is in project delivery.

We will assess this section, and your project plan, budget and risk register against the Green Roots Fund criteria.

• Ambition and impact – explain how you’ll deliver on the Green Roots Fund objectives
• Need and opportunity – explain why your project is needed
• Inclusion – explain how you’ll include a diverse range of Londoners
• Deliverability and long-term legacy - explain how your project will deliver its proposed impacts.

Each criteria forms 25 per cent of the assessment.

First you’ll need to tell us some basic information about your project, including where it will take place.

If your project will work with children, young people, vulnerable adults, or volunteers, you’ll need to submit a valid safeguarding policy with your application.

Equalities monitoring questions are optional and not assessed. We ask to understand who is applying for our funding and ensure equitable access.

We request the following supporting documents from non-public bodies (for example, local authorities do not need to provide this information):

• copy of most recent audited accounts
• where this information is not available in audited format, a turnover, profile & loss/income & expenditure, and cash flow position for the most recent full year of trading/operations
• proof of existence - Certificate of Incorporation
• Charity registration, if applicable
• VAT registration certificate, or another form of incorporation documentation

Projects which require landowner permission must provide evidence this has been given or, if you are the landowner, state this clearly in your application.

In addition to the above, where relevant you should include a small number of short documents to support your application, such as partners confirming their involvement.

We will not read extensive documents such as feasibility reports, etc. Please do not include them. You should reference them in your application and summarise their findings where relevant to the assessment criteria. We’ll request them if they are needed in our decision making.

All projects should allow for data collection and submission to allow us to monitor progress of your project. Our project monitoring will be proportionate to the grant amount.

When putting together your budget, you should consider how you’ll manage project monitoring. You may want to consider including an allowance of 3-5 per cent of your grant for staff time to cover monitoring.

All projects should consider doing an evaluation. This should be proportionate to the grant value. You can run your evaluation internally by existing staff or externally by an independent third-party.

For projects over £200,000, we strongly advise getting an external evaluation. You could increase the monitoring budget to 7 per cent to accommodate both evaluation and monitoring.

All projects will need a monitoring review at least every six months.

Project monitoring will be based on the milestones and outputs you propose in your application. 

In the application, you’ll need to select the relevant indicators and provide a target for each one. You’ll also be able to add custom outputs for your project delivery. When monitoring, you'll need to measure and report against the indicators selected.

You can download our monitoring guidance (PDF, 368 KB) as a reference document to answer any questions you may have about monitoring and to simplify completing this section.

For a more in-depth guide to the questions we'll ask, please download our application form template and guidance.

After each deadline, GLA officers and technical experts will assess grant applications against the criteria.

We’ll also consider the balance of projects at each funding round. This is so we fund varied projects for lots of different people and groups across Greater London.

We expect high demand for this funding. The GLA will not be able to fund all good projects that meet the criteria.

Successful applicants will be notified in line with the published decision date.

At this point, you will get a dedicated GLA grant officer. They will work with you to complete the grant funding agreement. You will have a dedicated grant officer for the duration of your project.

Sharing best practice

All grant recipients will be expected to share their knowledge, learning and best practice to accelerate the creation of a greener, more climate resilient city.  

We expect grant recipients to communicate their projects with us, for example through producing social media content and providing quotes and case studies for press and promotion. Projects delivered on the ground will be expected to provide signage acknowledging our funding.

Support for successful grantees 

Grant recipients are expected to attend workshops and sharing sessions with our support partner (to be appointed).

Acknowledging our funding 

Grant recipients are expected to publicly acknowledge that the Mayor of London is financially supporting their projects.

This should include on:

• site signs
• posters
• online, in social media or other communications. 

We’ll provide guidance on how to use our logo and will need to approve all materials before production. You should include costs for items such as signs in your budget.

Payment terms

Successful applicants who receive an offer of funding must sign a grant agreement before the project can start.   

Grant payments will usually be made in three stages:  

• 50 per cent on signing the grant funding agreement and completing project specific conditions, if applicable
• 40 per cent once you have evidenced that you have spent 80 per cent of the first payment, and on completing appropriate agreed milestones
• 10 per cent when you have finished your project and we have received project completion documentation. 

If your project includes tree aftercare costs for significant tree planting, we will pay this with the final 10 per cent when we have received the required confirmation. The middle payment will be adjusted accordingly.

There is a high demand for Green Roots funding and we will not be able to fund all good applications. You'll be notified if you're unsuccessful. There will be no appeals process and no individual feedback for applications.

We aim to keep the application form open between deadlines, so you can work on your application at a time that suits you.

The form may close temporarily after an application deadline for system updates. All complete applications will be removed from the system for assessment.

It will re-open again after this, so you can continue working on any draft applications ahead of the next round's application deadline date.

Please make sure you have reviewed your application before clicking the submit button. Before you can submit, the  system will check your application to ensure the information is consistent, for example, it will compare your total projects costs to your grant request and match funding.

If any issues are found during these validation checks, you will receive an error message. You must fix these errors before the system will allow you to submit your full application.

For this reason, we suggest planning to submit your application in advance of the deadline so that, if you need to respond to errors during the validation checks, you have plenty of time to do so.

If your project is not well developed yet, you can work on your submission and wait for another funding round. There is strong competition for the Green Roots Fund. It’s worth taking the time to develop your proposal to stand a better chance of success.

If you submit an application soon after a funding round closes, we will not assess it until the next funding round closes. You may want to leave it in draft, then review and submit shortly before the deadline, in case anything changes.