County Durham bursary scheme supports voluntary and community organisations to go green

Going Green Together has partnered with County Durham Community Foundation to provide training bursaries to help reduce financial barriers to becoming more sustainable.

Voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations in County Durham can apply for a training bursary to cover the cost of taking part in our Become Green Together programme.

Become Green Together is a programme within the Going Green Together project, which provides organisations with 12 months’ access to consultancy support, environmental tools and frameworks including the SmartCarbon carbon footprint calculator, accreditation with Investors in the Environment, and a peer support network.

Participants benefit from creating or expanding their environmental strategy, and gaining support on how to implement this strategy and meet their targets. They will understand what their current environmental impact is and how to reduce it. This will help them in reducing their energy and resource usage, demonstrating their environmental commitments to staff and stakeholders, preparing for changes to legislation, and meeting the environmental requirements of funding.

As a small social enterprise, our capacity to undertake the highly urgent work required to understand our Carbon Emissions and subsequently address the Climate Emergency is limited. Through participation in Become Green Together and the expert guidance and support of programme delivery partners Smart Carbon and Genee, I have been able to prioritise my tasks and make this previously daunting task feel achievable… I urge any small business interested in accessing this opportunity to grasp it and jump on board.

Jack Ward Burton, Jack Drum Arts

Over 60 organisations across the North East and Cumbria are currently taking part in the programme. This bursary offer, provided by County Durham Community Foundation, means that County Durham organisations can take part without having to pay the training costs.

You can enquire about bursaries by emailing the project coordinator, Nathaniel Spain, at Nathaniel.Spain@vonne.org.uk. Find out more about Become Green Together and how to apply through the Going Green Together website.