About us
Founded by HM King Charles III in 2010 while he was The Prince of Wales, The Royal Countryside Fund is the only UK-wide charity that empowers family farms and rural communities to ensure their future. Over the past decade, The Royal Countryside Fund has invested more than £11.4m in more than 490 projects working across the UK which improve service provision in rural areas, support farming businesses and rural enterprises, and provide training opportunities for young people. We’ve supported nearly 1,000 farming families to take charge of their businesses through the Farm Resilience Programme and, working with our Farm Support Group Initiative, helped many others to access local support when it is needed most.
The countryside, what it does, what it produces and what it offers affects us all. The Royal Countryside Fund wishes to see a thriving countryside – a living, breathing, working place – so that it is there for everyone.
In order to create a real future for rural Britain, we work in a number of ways:
- We have invested at least £500,000 to date through our grant programmes for rural communities to catalyse community-led solutions, and we illuminate their success so that others can follow.
- We lead initiatives, such as the Farm Resilience Programme which offers free business skills training to family farms across the UK.
- We develop schemes to assist young people and new entrants into farming, and strengthen our networks of support, such as the Farm Support Groups Initiative, so they are ready and able to provide local support to farming communities.
- We commission research into issues affecting farming families and rural communities.
- We are an advocate for the countryside by bringing together individuals and businesses to help tackle current challenges such as the climate crisis.
- We help communities in crisis through our Emergency Fund and by collaborating with Farming Help.
About our Founder, HM King Charles III
“I have been doing what little I can to support farming communities and promote the importance of sustainable landscapes throughout a 50-year period that has seen enormous changes for everyone involved with producing the food on which we all rely.
“During that time, I have been constantly amazed and heartened by the resilience, adaptability and ingenuity of the family farms that still form the backbone (and quite a few other bones, too) of our rural communities.
“Yet it is all too clear that even bigger changes are needed as we transition rapidly – as we must if we are to survive – to a world in which sustainability becomes a central organising principle.”
HM King Charles III while he was The Prince of Wales speaking at the Farmers Weekly Awards 2021
More than ten years since HM King Charles III, then The Prince of Wales, founded his Countryside Fund, his vision for a thriving countryside continues to inspire our work.
Find out more about our work
Farming families
British farming is facing relentless uncertainty, but The Royal Countryside Fund offers family farms access to immediate, local and practical support and a path to a sustainable future.
Rural communities
Too often, rural communities are without access to transport, jobs, housing, shops and community spaces. The Royal Countryside Fund powers community-led solutions through our grants and resources to ensure that they flourish, now and in the future.