London National Park City is proud to be working with the Greater London Authority (GLA) as an initial recipient of the Green Roots Fund – a new initiative supporting projects that create and improve green and blue infrastructure across the capital.
Working alongside local authorities and not-for-profit organisations, we’re helping to target this funding to communities already working to make London greener, healthier, and wilder.
The Green Roots Fund focuses on making the environment better for all Londoners, while addressing issues such as inequality, climate resilience, biodiversity and protecting against climate change.
Access to nature is a social justice issue. We see many parts of London where people do not have access to good quality green and blue spaces. The Green Roots Fund aims to change that by funding projects that will reconnect Londoners to their local spaces and bring nature back into the city for all to enjoy.
Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor for Environment
The Fund seeks to make London’s neighbourhoods healthier, more nature-rich and climate resilient, ensuring natural spaces are better connected with people.
It also promotes access to green and blue spaces – and their health and wellbeing benefits – for all Londoners, helping everyone feel welcome, included, and comfortable in natural environments.
Involving diverse groups in management and decision making, including working class and underrepresented communities who are often disproportionately impacted by lack of green space and polluted air in London.
London national park city rangers
As a supporting partner, London National Park City is helping connect the Green Roots Fund with our active community of 130 Rangers, local changemakers, and volunteers – passionate people already working to make London greener, healthier, and wilder through projects that bring communities closer to nature.
The programme strengthens capacity and resilience within the voluntary sector in a way that is both equitable and scalable without the complexity of traditional funding models. The Green Roots Fund creates new opportunities to kick-start and grow new community led and grassroots action right across London.
Navdeep Deol, Chair, National Park City Foundation
Through their deep local connection, Rangers are uniquely placed to lead and support grassroots projects that make a real difference in the places they live and work.
The collective goals of London National Park City include working together for better lives, health and wellbeing, wildlife trees and flowers, locally grown food and responsible consumption, relationships with nature and each other, time outdoors and more.
backing community-led ideas with small grants
By providing small grants for the tools, materials and resources for projects led by London National Park City Rangers, in local communities across London, the fund aims to support everyday Londoners in making their neighbourhoods greener, healthier, and wilder.
Since launching in January 2025, we’ve awarded 32 microgrants across 18 boroughs, funding a wide range of projects, including local community gardens, DIY food growing projects, ‘green’ outdoor classrooms for school children, composting systems on community housing estates, the rewilding of grey spaces, nature connection events for local communities, nature discovery walks and so much more!
We aim to distribute at least 100 grants by March 2026, with funding supporting a wide range of essential resources – from tools, plants, and compost to transport, timber, ponds, and polytunnels, to promotional materials for community engagement. This ensures that Rangers and the communities they work with are equipped to continue their vital work across London Boroughs, while helping to remove barriers to participation and volunteering.
Grassroots action
We know that local communities hold the insight and knowledge needed to drive meaningful change. But too often, funding mechanisms are complex, inaccessible, and fail to reach those doing the real work on the ground.
London National Park City Rangers bring a huge diversity of skills, experiences, and perspectives – many are long-time volunteers, teachers, gardeners, artists, and activists. By supporting the community with small, flexible grants, we ensure funding reaches a broad and inclusive range of locally-led projects, directing resources to areas where access to nature is limited, and representation in green decision-making is low.
creating an accessible grant programme
We wanted to create an accessible Small Grant Programme that recognises and respects the incredible work, time, and capacity of volunteers and community leaders across London. To help overcome barriers like digital exclusion, we offered the option to apply via phone, in person, or video call. We also used word-of-mouth and offline outreach to better connect with underrepresented and disproportionately impacted communities across London – particularly those often excluded from green decision-making and who may have limited awareness of funding opportunities.
Rochelle Shanthakumar, Programme Manager, London National Park City.
We also aim to take a flexible approach to defining impact, allowing Rangers to shape what success looks like in their unique contexts. This approach respects the time constraints of those leading the work while recognising, trusting and valuing local expertise.
By actively monitoring the programme and gathering regular feedback, we are committed to continually improving our approach – embracing participatory grantmaking to shift power away from traditional funding models and towards the people and places that stand to benefit most. This helps ensure the grants remain accessible, equitable, and responsive to the evolving needs of communities across London.
