The Cairngorms 2030 Communities Fund was designed by a group of people with a passion for the Cairngorms National Park and will run for the next two years. 

Today, the first phase opens. People and organisations planning projects that strengthen communities, support nature and biodiversity, improve outdoor wellbeing, or help to respond and adapt to climate change across the Cairngorms National Park are invited to apply for small grants of between £500 and £5,000. Those who haven't applied for funding before are particularly encouraged, with all decisions made within three weeks.

The entire grants process of the Communities Fund – from eligibility criteria to the application methods – was decided by a panel with a range of backgrounds and experiences. The panel recommended that a smaller forum be set up to make decisions on medium and large grants of up to £100,000. Recruitment for this new forum is now underway, and successful applicants will be independently selected by public participation charity Involve. The forum members will be paid for their time and supported by the Park Authority grants team throughout. Once recruited, information on who the forum members are will be available on the Park Authority website.

David Clyne, Head of the Cairngorms 2030 programme at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: “Today marks a significant milestone in this exciting project, one of the pillars of our Cairngorms 2030 programme. Designing a fund from scratch is no mean feat, so it was great to see the panellists bring so much energy and enthusiasm to the task. 

“What they’ve come up with is different to anything we’ve done before. The rolling small grants process aims to offer quick wins to community projects across the National Park and I can’t wait to hear about the first successful applications – especially if they’re from people who’ve never been involved in something like this before.”

The design panel met nine times throughout the spring and summer to consider the grants process, guided by Involve. They decided to split the Cairngorms 2030 Communities Fund into three tiers of small, medium and large grants:

Small grants of £500-£5,000

• Open for applications now and decisions made on a rolling basis
• Funding decisions made within three weeks of applications being submitted
• Applications can be submitted on the Park Authority website 

Medium grants of £5,000-£50,000 and large grants of £50,000-£100,000 

• These funds open for applications open in November 2026
• Funding decisions will be made at set dates between January 2027 and September 2028
• Once recruited, the forum of 11 people will consider applications for medium and large grants
• Applications to join the forum can be submitted here

Maisie Anthony, who grew up on a farm in Glenlivet and is starting a college course in agriculture, was the youngest member of the design panel, fitting in the sessions alongside studying for her exams at Speyside High. 

She said: “I joined having no previous knowledge of funding, so it was quite daunting. It’s been great to see how it’s progressed and I’ve really enjoyed the experience. Being younger, I have a different outlook to some of the others and it’s been good to bring that to the group. 

“The fund is going to make a genuine difference – we were really keen to make it accessible to everyone. It’ll be so rewarding seeing who benefits from it, knowing I’ve been a part of it.”