Neil Smith ‘Gold’ Food Grants

Grants available for: Community food projects for children, families or young people (up to age 25)
Size of grants given: up to £850
Next deadline: to be announced

Aims of Fund

The grants programme supports projects in communities in Brighton & Hove working on issues like growing, cooking, healthy eating, reducing waste and increasing access to good food. They are particularly keen to fund projects that link up different parts of the food system –for example healthy eating and growing or food waste reduction and cookery.

Who can apply

Community food projects (e.g. cooking, growing and healthy eating activities) for children, families or young people (up to age 25)

• experiencing poverty
• to tackle climate change
• tackling current COVID-19 implications

The kind of project they would fund:

• Edible hedgerow and tree-planting at a school
• Installing a community fridge in a children’s centre
• Inter-generational nature connection activities with outdoor cookery
• Healthy-eating cookery project for young care leavers
• A food bank increasing the use of Healthy Start vouchers

How much and what can you apply for

Neil Smith Gold Food Grants is a flexible programme that can help fund many of the different types of costs organisations and projects face. It can fund new or existing work and you can apply for funding towards your group’s core running costs (e.g. insurance, volunteer expenses) as well as the costs of running a specific project (e.g. capital goods such as cooking or gardening equipment, ingredients, plants and seeds).

Funding can pay for the costs of temporary, sessional workers to run workshops, classes or regular sessions, but cannot normally contribute to salary costs of permanent staff. You can also apply for bigger pieces of equipment (e.g. ovens, fridges) to improve kitchens where community members can learn cookery skills.

They are unlikely to fund projects where food is simply given away. For example, giving out vegetable snacks to children in school or buying in extra food for a food bank. They are more interested in a project that used food to educate, inspire and increase skills. For example: cooking food with beneficiaries, sharing together and then having a recipe to take home.

The maximum grant size is £850; £200 is the minimum. Groups can only apply for funding for one project.

How to apply

Download the guidance and application form from the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership website.

Return your application by email to info@bhfood.org.uk

Deadlines for application

The 2021 round of grants has been postponed due to COVID 19. Date to be confirmed.

Contact details

For more information, contact Helen Starr-Keddle on helen@bhfood.org.uk or 07850 002596

Page last updated: 5/8/21 RL