NEWS: Groundwork partners with the Bupa Foundation to support green space projects across the UK
Groundwork has partnered with the Bupa Foundation to award over £500,000 to green projects at over 240 schools, not-for-profits and charities.
Bupa Global & UK’s Healthy Cities raised these funds as part of an initiative which saw Bupa people, partners and customers collectively walk close to 1 billion steps in June.
To access the funding, local groups were encouraged to apply via the Bupa Foundation Green Community Grants programme, administered by Groundwork.
The successful applicants include:
- 165 schools who will receive funding for outdoor classrooms, forest schools, sensory gardens and similar projects
- 76 community groups, charities and food banks for community allotments, parks, playgrounds and green space improvements
The grants directly impacts up to 70,000 people across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The programme works to meet Groundwork strategic priority, supporting those who need it most to connect to nature whilst also meeting Bupa’s global ambition to support one million people to improve their health each year by 2025 through restoring and regenerating nature. It comes as Bupa research shows that two in five (38%) people in the UK spend less than an hour a day outdoors, with lack of access to green spaces having a knock-on effect on mental and physical health.
Time spent outdoors in green spaces has been shown to be hugely important to health and wellbeing. It helps boost mood and reduce stress levels, as well as encouraging people to be more active and feel connected with their local community. Increased quality of green spaces also benefits the environment too through reducing pollution, which has been linked to respiratory diseases, heart disease, and some cancers.
We are delighted that schools and community groups up and down the UK are going to benefit from much-needed funding through our partnership with the Bupa Foundation. Now more than ever, it’s vital that support goes to the people and places that need it the most to ensure that communities can thrive. We look forward to seeing the on-going, positive impact that this funding will have.
Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive
People’s health and planet health are inextricably linked, which is why it’s essential that we work to increase access to nature and green spaces. We received over 1,000 applications for funding and the standard of applications made the judging process incredibly difficult. I’m pleased that the Bupa Foundation is able to fund so many fantastic projects around the country, living our purpose to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world.
Stuart Brown, Chair of the Bupa Foundation
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact: media@groundwork.org.uk
Research was conducted by Censuswide among 2,005 consumers, weighted to be nationally representative in May 2023.
About Groundwork
Groundwork is a charity working locally and nationally to transform lives in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.
We’re passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny, and no one is held back by their background or circumstances. We help people gain confidence and skills, get into training and work, protect and improve green spaces, lead more active lives and overcome significant challenges such as poverty, isolation, low skills and poor health: www.groundwork.org.uk
About the Bupa Foundation
The Bupa Foundation runs and helps fund practical projects that help to create healthier communities. Our health, and the health of the places we live, are deeply connected. So we help local communities to run projects that look after both. Since 2015 we’ve supported hundreds of charities and donated over £7m in grants. For more information, visit www.bupafoundation.org
About Bupa Global & UK
Bupa’s purpose is helping people live longer, healthier, happier lives and making a better world. Health insurance accounts for a large part of our business with Bupa UK Insurance, the UK’s leading health insurer, providing health and dental insurance to over 3 million people. Bupa Global is the premium health insurance arm of Bupa, serving 460,000 customers around the world. Bupa Dental Care is the leading provider of dentistry in the UK, providing dental services in over 450 centres across the UK and Ireland. Bupa Care Services has around 6,600 residents in 120 care homes and 10 Richmond care villages. Bupa Health Services comprises 52 health clinics, and the Cromwell Hospital in London which provides care for insured, self-pay and international patients. Bupa directly employs around 23,000 people in the UK.