Community Rewilding Guide
This page is part of the Community Rewilding Guide, a resource for local groups working to restore nature. Back to guide contents page.

Funding Your Project

Planning, securing and managing finances is one of the big challenges for community rewilders. Funding for rewilding interventions, activities and events can come from a range of places, such as government grants, fundraising and private sources.

Community groups often want a building - somewhere people can gather and learn about what’s happening. For rewilders, buying land may be a route you wish to go down. This can be a big change of direction for a group. Buying land can be very expensive. The Scottish Land Fund can help prepare you for and fund purchases of buildings of land. However, the funding does not work for every group. Other routes include high profile crowdfunding such as that followed by the Langholm Initiative whose inspirational story is told at Our Story - Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.

For marine groups, having a boat for research can shift the organisation towards research and work with universities.

Funding from external investors can be an opportunity and can bring risks. One project has recently had to change direction abruptly because the investors’ borrowing model failed, and the land has been put back on the market.

Some groups see the chance to make links between investment and community wealth-building. The River Ericht Catchment Restoration Initiative, for example, references the Community Inclusion Standard, and the Scottish Land Commission is developing a community benefits standard, which is being prepared at the time of writing this guide. This is a fast developing field, and communities wishing to work in partnership with natural capital investors will need to explore these links and beyond.

Case Study: Langholm Initiative – Tarras Valley Nature Reserve

Community-led land buyout for nature and regeneration

The Langholm Initiative is an award-winning community development trust for Eskdale and Liddesdale, based in Langholm. Their main purpose is to work alongside local communities to make the area a better place to live, work and visit.

How we funded our work

In May 2019, Buccleuch Estates announced its decision to sell more than 10,000 hectares of Langholm Moor. This news came as a shock to the local community who have deep cultural connections with the land.

Following extensive local consultations, the Langholm Initiative agreed to take forward a fundraising campaign on behalf of the community, attempting to raise over £6 million to purchase 4,250 hectares of this very special landscape. Community ownership of land was a chance to help support wider regeneration of the town through new nature-based enterprises and make a meaningful contribution to the climate and ecological emergency.

At the start, this seemed like an impossible dream, but with a huge dedicated effort across the community, with an army of volunteers and support from partner organisations, the campaign quickly gained momentum and attracted international attention. A fundraising campaign attracted £3.8 million in just six months. This enabled the initial purchase of 2,100 hectares of the Tarras Valley to go ahead, with the first half of the land officially transferred to the community in March 2021.

The final 2,140 hectares of land was held off the open market in agreement with Buccleuch to enable the community to fundraise the final £2.2 million to secure the Northern half of the Tarras Valley. The buyout’s second stage was launched in October 2021. In nine months, the community defied the odds and “achieved the impossible” for a second time in two years, raising the total needed to double the size of the landholding and bring it into community hands.

Funding sources

Grants and donations: Significant support came from public bodies, charitable foundations, large philanthropic donors and environmental organisations. Notable contributors included Alex Gerko, John Muir Trust, South of Scotland Enterprise, Anne Reece Foundation, Bently Foundation, Carman Family Foundation, Rewilding Britain and Garfield Weston Foundation.
Scottish Land Fund: The purchase was helped by grants and support from the Scottish Land Fund, which supports community purchases of land and assets in Scotland through land reform legislation.
Crowdfunding: Online crowdfunding platforms helped reach a broad audience and attract small donations from many people. This was the main public-facing platform for donations and fundraising updates, helping to maintain public and media interest.

Find out more on their website.

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