Connect with us
If you work in philanthropy and are interested in partnering with Farming the Future, please get in touch with bonnie@farmingthefuture.uk
At this time, we’re not accepting unsolicited grant applications.
Before getting in touch, check out FAQs below and our Learn page
We're a small and dedicated team, and while we'd love to reply to everyone, we're not always able to respond to every message.
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FAQs
We don’t send regular newsletters, but from time to time we share updates, learning opportunities, and collaborative projects that help grow this community of changemakers.
FAQs
Currently we operate on an invite only basis. Places to look for funding:
Grants for Farming
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Dean Organic Fund (run by Organic Research Centre)
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AgriFood Charities Partnership members often fund farmer education and other projects
Skill Building and Research opportunities
Further Grant Research
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National Lottery Community Fund: Awards for All funds some community food work
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Local geographically focused community foundations and trusts are also often a good call for locally focused endeavours - you can use https://grantnav.threesixtygiving.org/ to have a look for these. For instance, Badur Foundation, Rothschild and the Lund Trust all have some geographical interest areas.
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Churchill Fellowship website also has some tips for where else to search for funding including Charity Excellence, and grant databases and funding platforms, such as Funding4All or Action Together.
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My Community and Social Investment Business also list available grants for enterprises.
Loans
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Oxbury bank agricultural bank offer farm loans as well as a New Gen loan fund to help young people enter the farming industry
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Loans for Enlightened Agriculture (Real Farming Trust) – tends to be for more established community-connected growing enterprises
Investment
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If you are thinking social investment (not funding) then John Ellerman Foundation, Treebeard Trust, Esmee Fairbairn, A Team Foundation all invest in food and farming related social enterprises. You might also look at support from Access Foundation and Better Society Capital.
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The Pathway Fund (linked to The Social Investment Consultancy) is particularly looking to be a wholesaler for more impact investment into BPOC led enterprises.
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As of 2025 FTF has an informal network of 140+ organisations and groups who are invited to apply for funding. We know that there are amazing groups out there not on this list and are actively trying to manage bringing in new organisations and groups while managing a fairly small funding pot while not increasing competition. We have adapted our eligibility requirements for collaborations so that only one member of a collaboration needs to be from our invited network of previously funded partners and we encourage groups to bring in new organisations into their proposals.
Multi year funding is challenging for FTF as we have varying lengths of commitments from our donor partners and so often only have a complete funding picture for the year ahead.
Farming the Future is a collaboration of funders contributing into a pooled fund on an unrestricted basis, donors do not set the terms of what or how we fund. We do not have an endowment and our funding levels are dependent on commitments from our current donor partners and any new partners joining the fund through our fundraising efforts. You can see our current donor partners on our About Us page.
In this next phase we are encouraging commitments of £50K a year for three years to give us a good line of sight, but we also welcome those interested in supporting at a smaller scale - every contribution really does make a difference. If you are interested in joining us please contact Bonnie (bonnie@farmingthefuture.uk) to talk through options and questions.
Our selection process has evolved over the years but is primarily done through a nominations process. Current Ambassadors play the main role in nominating new individuals alongside conversations with the wider collective about specific skills sets, perspectives or other considerations we have identified as needs to do our work well and in line with our values. We are aware that these are roles with a lot of power and work hard to balance the many different factors at play when bringing together a group of people to help connect us to the movement. Our approach is always evolving in response to feedback and the changing needs with FTF itself.
FTF uses a collective impact approach to understand and illustrate the ripple effects from our work over the years. Supporting systems change work requires taking a patient and broad understanding of impact. No one project or approach is going to create a new system. What we want to understand, track and communicate is how diverse actors and activities layer together to contribute to transformative systems change over time. This is an evolving space where we are actively testing different approaches and joining the pooled fund is a great way to be engaged with this year.
