Introduction >
In April 2007, GrantScape announced the launch of an innovative £600,000 grant programme through our new Community Heritage Fund. The Windmill and Watermill Challenge was designed to support local groups seeking to restore England’s traditional windmills and watermills, enabling these iconic structures to be set working once again.
GrantScape’s Chief Executive, Steven Hargreaves explained:
“The choice of windmills and watermills as the focus of our Community Heritage Fund reflected our absolute commitment to environmental and community grant–making. Through the Challenge we were also very keen to support projects seeking to make a visible and direct contribution to England’s milling heritage for future generations to enjoy”.
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Grant programme design >
The Funding Criteria for the new grant programme were designed by our Grants Team with support and input from The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), whose Mills Section is the only national body devoted to the care and repair of traditional wind and watermills. 
As well as providing funding for vital repair and conservation works, GrantScape’s Board also decided that grants should be available to enhance public access to these much-loved buildings and to support mills in their generation and use of hydro and wind power.
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Application process >
The grant application process used GrantScape’s on-line application system (which went live in January 2007) to collect standard project information from applicants. In addition, groups were required to complete a 10-page project plan answering a set of specific, more detailed questions for which full guidance was also provided. Once completed, these were to be 
submitted by email to GrantScape – no further information was required.
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Promotion >
The Windmill and Watermill Challenge was promoted through GrantScape’s website and in our e-newsletter, “OutLook”. We also designed an A5 “flyer” which SPAB Mills Section kindly sent out to all recipients of its “Mills News” bulletin in March 2007. This was a highly effective means of reaching potential applicant groups right across England. Press releases were also produced and issued with support from SPAB’s Press Office.
During the period that the grant programme was open, we were able to monitor levels of interest shown by tracking the number of groups accessing our application pack web-pages. Had interest levels been lower than desired, we would therefore have been in a position to undertake further promotional activity in good time. This was, however, unnecessary.
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Applications received >
We received 28 high-quality applications to the Windmill and Watermill Challenge. These sought a total of £2.3 million in grants for projects costing £14.4 million. The projects were evenly spread between traditional windmills and watermills across England and, pleasingly, a number sought to incorporate hydro-power schemes. Return to top Assessment process >
To assist our Trustees in reaching decisions on grants to be awarded it is GrantScape’s standard practice for programmes such as this to enlist the support of a group of independent specialists. Ahead of the grant programme’s launch, we therefore formed an Advisory Group comprising representatives from SPAB - Mills Section, English Heritage, Heritage Link and Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
At its meeting, the Advisory Group (chaired by a GrantScape Trustee) was presented with a two-page assessment of each grant application, prepared by our Grants Team. These were specifically designed for the Windmill and Watermill Challenge and were set out in a standard format to aid comparison and evaluation. One-page executive summaries, taken from the applicants’ project plans, were also provided.
After the Advisory Group's meeting, at which its recommendations to GrantScape's Board were agreed, two members of the Group wrote to us as follows:
"Working with GrantScape [for their 2007 awards] showed the high degree of professionalism available in the private sector for managing grant programmes." Ian Harper, Historic Buildings Architect, English Heritage (East of England)
"I enjoyed very much the opportunity to help GrantScape and I benefited from the rigour and range of the process." Tom Oliver, Head of Rural Policy, The Campaign to Protect Rural England
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Following GrantScape’s Board meeting in November 2007, the eight successful groups and their projects were announced: Apsley Paper Trail - awarded a grant of £77,000 to restore and replace one of two waterwheels at Frogmore Mill in Apsley, Hertfordshire, an historic fully-working papermill
Daniels Mill Trust - awarded a grant of £67,500 to restore Daniels Mill in Eardington, Shropshire to full water-powered working operation, as originally intended when it was “refurbished” in cast iron in 1854
Holgate Windmill Preservation Society - awarded a grant of £97,856 to restore Holgate Windmill in York to its iconic pre-1933 working state
The National Trust - awarded a grant of £72,500 to restore the old bakery within Cotehele Mill, near Saltash in Cornwall and to install a new hydro scheme to provide power to the watermill
The National Trust - awarded a grant of £57,744 to restore Shalford Mill’s water wheel and sluice gate so as to conserve the mill gear of this watermill located near Guildford, Surrey
The National Trust - awarded a grant of £95,954 to preserve Stembridge Tower Mill, England’s last thatched cap Windmill located near Langport in Somerset
Renewable Heritage Trust - awarded a grant of £62,000 to reinstate the waterwheel of Howsham Mill near York, and to install two new turbines in the sluice
Swannington Heritage Trust - awarded a grant of £69,877 to bring Hough Mill in Swannington, Leicestershire back to life by freeing the windmill’s cap and installing a fantail and gearing.
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Grant programme evaluation and applicant feedback >
For our major specialist grant programmes, Grantscape always seek feedback from all applicants on their experience of our end-to end application process, whether or not they are awarded a grant. For the Windmill and Watermill Challenge we had a 29% response rate. Of those groups that returned our questionnaire, 37.5% assessed our overall service level as “Excellent”, with the remaining 62.5% assessing this as “Good”. We received the following feedback from one unsuccessful applicant:
“I’ve been involved in fundraising for 12 years or so. I’d say that GrantScape has set new standards in terms of applicant-friendly application processes. Everything’s well explained, and there are no pointless questions. The whole process looks like it was put together – or at least vetted - by somebody who’s had experience of applying for funds. In theory this should be the norm, but in practice it’s highly unusual.
The support we received during the two application processes (mostly by phone) was great. It was both clear and encouraging. Again you’d expect this to be the norm, but it’s not…staff of many funding organisations are:
(a) vague / misleading about their own funding criteria and
(b) suspicious of / discouraging to prospective applicants”.
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An important final word of thanks >
GrantScape would particularly like to thank Waste Recycling Group Limited who very kindly provided the monies for our Windmill and Watermill Challenge, through the Landfill Communities Fund. We are also very grateful to our Advisory Group members for their advice and support with this highly successful grant programme.
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