The North London Community Fund

Any legally constituted, community-based (not-for-profit) organisation is eligible to apply. This includes any: 

• Charitable Trust 
• Unincorporated Association 
• Community Benefit Society / Cooperative Society registered under the Co-Operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014
• Charitable Company 
• Community Interest Company 
• Company Limited by Guarantee
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation 

The proposed project must take place in at least one of the north London boroughs (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest, but it is not a requirement for the organisation to be based there). 

We do not try and describe every type of project that could be supported because each organisation will want to create a tailored approach to meet their community’s needs.  

We want to encourage a wide range of creative ideas and therefore there is no prescribed approach, but it is also important to clearly connect the waste prevention project you are proposing to a reduction in household waste, such as rubbish and recycling.    

Discover some of the previously awarded projects on the North London Community Fund: Summary of Projects page on our website.    

*Please note: We do not fund projects dealing with business waste even if the aim is to benefit households. 

Projects will be assessed against the criteria below:  

1: Planning of the project.  

2: What results the project aims to achieve, how they will be measured and communicated.    

3: How the project's resources (funding, partnerships, time and people) are planned.  

4: How the project will involve, support and inspire north London residents, communities or groups to take part in waste prevention activities.  

A more detailed breakdown of each of these can be found in the Guidance Document. 

Once received, your application is anonymously evaluated by a team made up of NLWA staff and individuals from community organisations in north London, in consultation with officers from the north London boroughs. The evaluation team members will bring diversity in experience, backgrounds and expertise to the evaluation process.

The evaluation team will review all applications against the evaluation criteria and create a shortlist of projects recommended for funding. Depending on the number of applications received, this process may take several weeks.  

The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) is seeking external evaluators to help assess applications to the North London Community Fund (NLCF). This is an opportunity to support community-led environmental projects across north London and play a key role in helping decide which organisations receive funding.  To find out more, visit North London Community Fund - Evaluators expression of Interest | NLWA

• Research projects  
• Projects delivered by a school*  
• Projects delivered in schools during term time or within school times*  
• Projects designed to only reduce waste from a business  
• Projects delivered by a local authority  
• Project applications from profit-making businesses  
• Projects for which full funding has already been received from another source  
  * To learn about our education activities, head over to our Education Hub.

Successful applicants will be asked to provide the following documents listed below, and we may request additional project-specific information if needed. Any documents requested must be submitted in the timeframe laid out in the ‘Provisional Award Letter’ if your application is successful.  

• Accounts or financial statement. For the last financial year relating to the organisation applying. If you are a new or small organisation, or if you need support with this request, we can guide you on what to provide.  
• Public Liability Insurance. For proposals that involve the use of a venue or locations.  
• Employers Liability Insurance. Unless the applicant has statutory exemption for this type of insurance.  
• Evidence of co-funding agreements. If applicable.  
• Recent bank statement or official document showing details of bank account within the last 3 months, if applicable.  
• Evidence of partnership. If applicable  

We also recommend that organisations have the policies listed below in place. While these policies are not required for your application it is good practice to have these policies. We have included links to template documents to help you create your own if needed.

• Health and safety policy template  
• Environmental policy template
• Equal opportunities policy template  

To keep our process as fair as possible, we do not offer support with completing the application. However, during November, December and January, we will host 3 live Q&A Webinars to explain the fund and answer your questions.  

Q&A Webinar: Tuesday 17 November 2026, 5:30 – 6:30pm  

Q&A Webinar: Tuesday 8 December 2026, 12:30 – 1:30pm  

Q&A Webinar: Thursday 14 January 2026, 5:30 – 6:30pm  

We also hosted Community Workshops last year to provide organisational development training for volunteer, charity and social enterprise organisations in north London. The recordings are available at North London Community Workshops webpage.   

Our clarification request window will be open until 2 February 2027. To see other people's questions, please check the Clarification Document.   

Many local CVS groups will also provide support with application writing. Get in touch with your local group to find out more:  

Yes. NLWA encourages applicants to maximise the benefit of co-funding. This has several benefits including the increase of value for money. Match funding is not mandatory and will not form part of the assessment of your application.    

Details of co-funding agreements should be detailed in the application form under the 'Proposed Project' section. Evidence of co-funding agreements will be requested if your application is successful.

Yes. Organisations can apply on their own or can also partner with other not-for-profit organisations to make a joint application so that they can deliver the project together. If partnering with another not-for-profit organisation, you will need to provide evidence of your partnership agreement. Please note, organisations can only submit one grant application in any given year either alone or partnering with another organisation.

Yes, staff costs are eligible for funding. Staff time can be allocated a maximum of £20 per hour. External contractors delivering specialist services may be allocated up to £25 per hour, provided the higher rate is fully justified.  

The amount of funding requested should only correspond to the amount of time spent on the project and not any other activities carried out by the organisation. It is recognised that staff time can form a significant part of project costs and details of all staff time spent on the project should be provided in the final financial report.

Yes, the fund can be put towards core costs, such as items and services. This must be set out in your NLCF application spreadsheet with your application. However, the funding cannot be used to cover rental agreements that extend beyond the funding period. 

Organisations can only submit one grant application in any given year either alone or partnering with another organisation.  

Payments will be made into the bank account of the recipient organisation. Recipients of the fund will need to be set-up on the NLWA payment system. This process can take up to 2 months. Invoices will then need to be submitted to Camden Council for payment. Payments are made on our behalf by Camden Council and payment terms are 30 days from receipt of the invoice.

Organisations that have received an extension from NLWA to the delivery timeline for their current North London Community Fund project are eligible to apply to this round.

We welcome applications from organisations that have applied before, whether or not they have previously received funding. If you are applying for more funding for the same project, we would expect it to have evolved from what we previously funded.

Yes. We are currently finalising the details of our large grant offer for 2027-28 and will be opening applications for that round of funding in the new year. Keep an eye out here for announcements. 

We welcome applications where AI has been used to help with grammar, structure and communicating your ideas clearly. However, in instances where AI was used to generate ideas, project plans and timelines, we have observed that applications often contained inconsistencies and lack of detail, which made it difficult for evaluators to assess. Therefore, we highly recommend that all applications are thoroughly checked before submission.

Public bodies (like local authorities) are legally required to ensure efficient use of taxpayer funds. To comply with that, you will be asked to indicate the amount of money your organisation has received since April 2024 from any public body, including NLWA, in your application.

NLWA's Privacy Policy sets out how North London Waste Authority (NLWA) uses and protects your personal data. 

• Application opens – 5 November 2026    
• NLCF Q&A webinar – 18 November 2026    
• NLCF Q&A webinar – 8 December 2026    
• NLCF Q&A webinar – 14 January 2026    
• Deadline for applicant questions – 29 January 2027  
• Deadline for NLWA to respond to applicant questions – 2 February 2027    
• Application closes – 5pm, 16 February 2027    
• Application evaluation – February - March 2027    
• Application outcome – April 2027