Schools

To be eligible for a grant: 

  • You must be a state-funded school where 30% or more pupils are eligible for free school meals. We use the ‘get information about schools’ service to get this data. 
  • Your trip must have a focus on helping pupils to learn about, connect with or enjoy the national park. This may be through history and heritage, nature and the climate or with a focus on health and wellbeing. We don’t fund trips to tourist attractions or days out solely to villages or towns in the Peak District such as Bakewell. 
  • You must spend the grant within 6 months of receiving it.

Please note: 

  • We don’t fund any ongoing organisational expenses such as staff wages, vehicle maintenance or insurance.  
  • We cover food costs at a maximum of £6 per person.

How to use your Connect Fund grant:  

Connect Fund grants can be spent on anything required to make your trip happen, as long as these costs are essential and for the benefit of the young people taking part. 

This might be: 

  • Transport costs, such as coach hire, fuel costs, bus or train fares 
  • Learning provider fees, such as a walking guide, an expert on heritage to teach pupils about a particular monument or area of the Park, or a farmer to talk about life on the farm and sustainable farming practices 
  • Equipment needed for your activity such as maps or a first aid kit (please note, it is unlikely that we will fund equipment that serves a longer-term purpose for your organisation, such as clipboards, pens, compasses etc.)  

Wherever possible, please make sustainable choices when planning your transport and activity. If you have any questions about how to use a potential grant, please feel free to get in touch before submitting your application.

If you think you are eligible for a Connect Fund grant, and plan to spend it as outlined above, we’d love to hear from you. 

  • Make sure you answer every question with the detail it asks for and only submit your application when you have planned your activity in full.  
  • Please ensure you include a full budget breakdown with details of your planned spending, and quotes wherever possible. If you apply without submitting a quote, you must make sure you have an accurate idea of how much your activity will cost, with evidence of your workings. We cannot amend a grant once it is designated. 
  • When you are ready to apply, please download and fill in the application form, and return it to hello@peakdistrictfoundation.org.uk. We aim to be in touch with the outcome of your application within two weeks of the closing date.
  • The upcoming deadlines for this financial year are 16th October 2026 and 19th February 2027. 

If you’d like to discuss your application at any stage, or to check your eligibility before you begin the process, get in touch at hello@peakdistrictfoundation.org.uk or by calling 01629 700 606.  

Please note, we receive far more applications than we can fund so even if your project is eligible, you are not guaranteed to receive a grant.  In the last year we awarded grants in around 60% of cases.   

For groups looking to spend time at Chatsworth House or Thornbridge Hall, we would expect you to apply for funding from these organisations before submitting a Connect Fund application.

For the Chatsworth House application form, please click here.

For the Thornbridge Hall application form, please click here.

If you are unsuccessful, you are welcome to apply to the Connect Fund – please let us know at the application stage.

If you’d like to view this information as a PDF in order to refer back to the application guidance, you can do so here.