Our Fund aims to support the wellbeing of communities in the Severn Trent region. We want to fund new projects that link to three key elements of community wellbeing - People, Place and Environment - and we’re really interested in projects that cover all three:
And of course, being a water company, naturally we’d love to see applications for projects that have a connection to water too (although this isn’t essential). Some examples might include improving access to and caring for rivers, installing grey water recycling, or creating sustainable drainage (SuDS) and water efficient green spaces.
We’ll consider both capital and revenue projects, as long as the project has plans to be sustained beyond our initial investment.
To give you an idea of the types of projects that are funded, take a look at our annual reviews and our map of projects we’ve funded so far.
Funding available
There are two sizes of grant that you can apply for in 2025:
Each grant size has a different set of questions, so please make sure you select correctly in the application.
Severn Trent must be the majority funder of the project, so you’ll need to be applying to us for over 50% of the total project cost.
Whilst match funding isn’t mandatory, it does help us spread the support of the fund wider. Match funding could be from your reserves, from other funders or in-kind goods or services. If your project involves match funding, you need to have this secured before you submit your application.
For both grant sizes, we allow up to 24 months to complete your project. This is in place to allow sufficient time for capital projects or recruitment time for a salaried post. If your application includes salaries, we do not recommend applying for a full-time salary for two years. With the funding available and the large geographical spread of the Severn Trent region, it's highly unlikely the Customer Panel will approve the value of the application.
Check your organisation's eligibility for funding
You can apply for a grant if your organisation:
The proposed project must be located in the Severn Trent region and the community it is benefiting must be Severn Trent customers. Our catchment region stretches across the heart of the UK, from the Bristol Channel to the Humber, and from the West Midlands to the East Midlands.
You can check if your project is in our region using the map or Water UK’s water supply postcode checker.
If your project is located in the HafrenDyfrdwy region, please see hdcmyru.co.uk/communityfund for available funding.
Check your project's eligibility for funding
Here is a list of our eligible and ineligible costs – if you are still unsure or if a certain project cost is not listed here, please get in touch with our team by emailing communityfund@severntrent.co.uk.
*Why we can’t fund water fountains
For water quality reasons we prefer to promote Refill points at local bars and cafes across our region, where we know that they will be kept hygienic and we can keep our customers safe. Find your nearest Refill station here.
Including Value-added Tax in your budget and application
You may need to pay VAT on purchases made as part of your project and we can pay for this within the grant. Make sure you check whether VAT needs to be included when you develop your budget. The amount of funding you request should only include VAT where you don’t intend to, or can’t, recover the VAT at a later date. If you later find that VAT claimed under the grant becomes recoverable, you must repay this amount to us.
Our Community Fund is always open for applications and our Customer Panel who ultimately make the decision on which projects are funded, review applications for new projects every 6 months. If you are aiming for review at a specific panel, please try to submit your application in good time. If we need more information about your project and the application has been submitted close to the deadline, there may not be enough time to help you gather this. In such cases, we may need to delay the consideration of your application to the following panel.
We can’t allow grant money to sit untouched, so your project must start within 6 months of the grant offer date.
We can only accept one application from your organisation each year.
Once you have checked your organisation and request is eligible, and read all our guidance, you are ready to get started.
These are the steps you’ll need to follow:
Internal Review
Once you have submitted your application, your application will now be with our internal team for initial review.
The team will assess and score your application against the following criteria:
Our Customer Panel is made up of volunteers, so they aren't able to review an unlimited amount of applications. If we get a lot of fantastic applications that score highly, your application will be compared with others in the same round and only the very strongest applications will go forward to the Panel for consideration.
At this stage, if your project is ineligible or not the strongest fit for our criteria, we’ll let you know that your application will not be progressing any further.
Customer Panel Review
If your project passes our internal review, we’ll take your application to our Community Fund Panel for a final decision. This is an independent Panel made up of our customers, so ultimately, it is our customers who decide where our money goes.
Our Community Fund is hugely popular and so, whilst we’d love to, unfortunately we simply can’t fund every application we receive.
While you can’t appeal a Panel decision, we will provide you with reasons why it was unsuccessful, and you are welcome to reapply to the Community Fund with a different project in 12-months time. If you want to re-apply, please take the time to understand why your application was not successful and have a chat with us first. We really would not want to disappoint you again.
Our Fund Officers are always available to discuss further applications with you.
Congratulations, the Panel has approved your funding and your application has been successful.
Accepting our offer
At this point, we will notify you that you have been successful and that you need to log onto your grant portal to view your Grant Offer letter.
There are three things you need to do before we can give you the funding:
For large grants, this the point where we will discuss and agree a payment structure with you.
Please complete the above within seven days of receiving your offer letter to avoid any delays. Your offer will be subject to a final financial check.
If you have any queries or concerns regarding this offer letter, please get in touch withthe team by emailing communityfund@severntrent.co.uk.
Apply for funding
If your organisation and project are eligible, you can apply for funding from the Community Fund.
Contact us
Our dedicated Fund Officers welcome a chat before you apply to discuss your project idea, chat through the application process and answer any questions you have. We know how much work goes into applications and we want this to be worthwhile for you.