Gardening projects need your vote in Aviva Community Fund awards

Would you like to see a community gardening project get funding? Earlier this year Insurance company Aviva put out a call for submissions to its newly launched Aviva Community Fund. Over three thousand responded, and Aviva are now asking us to vote for the projects we'd most like to receive support.

Three hundred and sixty two projects will receive funding. The four levels of awards are: up to £1000, £5000, £10,000 and £25,000. The 200 most-voted-for in the £1000 category will qualify immediately for funding, while those with the most votes in the other levels will go on to a judging stage.

There are some heart-warming projects to choose from and plenty of very attractive non-gardening ones.  Here's a quick selection:

 

Streetscape apprentices

Streetscape, London, provides and funds one-year, salaried apprenticeships in landscape gardening for 18-25 year-olds who are long-term unemployed, culminating in a Level 2 diploma in Work-based Horticulture. They also provide funds for short courses and driving lessons and run landscape-gardening taster days to introduce youngsters to horticulture and help likely candidates with job searches.

Oakleaf's Healing with Horticulture, Guildford, Surrey, provides horticultural training and employment experience for the mentally ill, who learn the skills while providing modest gardening and landscaping services to local businesses and private customers. Many of Oakleaf's clients have returned to work following their training and support.

Trellis supports therapeutic gardens

Trellis, Scotland, advises therapeutic garden projects, provides training for those who'd like to set up a therapeutic garden in their community, and gives Easy Gardening taster sessions to the disabled, those with Alzheimer's and long-term health problems to show how they can fit gardening into their lives and enjoy it.

There are many community and school gardens, such as Manchester Deaf Centre,  The Patchworking Garden Project   Headway Devon (a garden for people with acquired brain injury), and the Tumble Family Centre. That's not even the tip of the iceberg.

Aviva launched its Community Fund in March with the announcement that 85% of the nation's community groups fear that they won't secure their minimum funding target to remain active for the next financial year, while the average sum needed to sustain annual funding is £3,697. 

With ten allotted votes, you can even vote for several projects, which is helpful to someone like me who can't choose between a number of deserving causes.

There are oodles more. Search for "horticulture", "garden" and "gardening", or put in your location to check if there's anything local to you. The website could be easier to navigate as you can't save searches or keep a list of likely projects, which makes choosing a little more time-consuming than it might be, but with so many worthwhile projects to look at, it's time that brings home just how much good work is being carried out quietly around the country.

And with the prospect of 'Austerity Heavy', as Green Party leader Natalie Bennett described Conservative policy in the seven-way TV debate, it looks as if charities and community projects will increasingly rely on funds such as Aviva's to continue.  There are 19 days left to vote.

Comments

[VP]

I went to vote when I first heard about this, but you have to register with Aviva, so I gave up :(

[Helen]

Yes, you seem to have to register with everything nowadays. I persevered and it didn't take long, as far as I remember. You're right, all these registrations are off-putting, though.