Programmes & Grant Streams

As leaders in the Learning from the Land sector, we are committed to promoting land-based learning to the widest audience. The potential for growth feeds our desire to forge new connections and collaborations with those who share our vision of a more environmentally engaged society. 

The Owl Collaboration is a £2.8M funding-plus project led by The Ernest Cook Trust, giving underserved young people an opportunity to benefit from a week of Outdoor Learning. ‘OWL’ brings together schools, Outdoor Learning centres and funders in a project that was initially devised as an immediate response to the effects of COVID-19 on young people, the financial effects of the pandemic on Outdoor Learning centres, and the ongoing climate and environmental crisis.

We have successfully established funding partnerships with organisations whose collaboration through match funding has greatly enhanced the scale and reach of the projects we jointly support. In summer 2020, we began the pilot stage for our Green Influencers Scheme – an exciting programme jointly funded in partnership with the #iwill Fund, with the Trust acting as match-funder. This England-wide scheme ran for an initial three year period, promoting environmental youth social action amongst 10-14 year-olds.

Its successor is the Blue Influencers Scheme, launched Autumn 2023. This will help address the specific environmental concerns raised by young people living in coastal, river and estuary communities.

Our established Everything Outdoors Grant schemes provide skills and leadership opportunities for young people to make positive environmental change, help tackle the barriers to outdoor access, and keep nature connection at the heart of learning. Please click on the links below for more information, and check our social media channels and website for announcements of new rounds of funding for each scheme.

With other major projects in the pipeline, we continue the important work of the Trust, particularly through our support of children and young people in schools and in the community.