About Ecominds

The Ecominds funding scheme
Ecominds is an open grant programme run by Mind as an award partner of the Big Lottery Fund. The programme has £7.5 million to distribute to around 125 new and existing projects focusing on mental health and the environment around England over the next five years.

The purpose of Ecominds
Ecominds aims to help people with direct experience of mental distress become involved in environmental projects that improve mental and physical health and local communities. Ecominds will help reduce the stigma surrounding mental distress and help create a society that treats people with experience of mental distress fairly, positively, and with respect.

There is growing evidence demonstrating that green exercise provides substantial benefits for health and wellbeing.

Examples of projects 

• Community horticultural and agricultural projects
• Walking and rambling groups 
• Wildlife habitat or other site creation or renovation
• Clearing open spaces for community use
• Graffiti removal projects
• Environmental protection (such as rebuilding a flood plain)
• Creating or renovating urban green areas (such as 'Adopt-a-Space' schemes whereby a group adopts, maintains, improves, and makes accessible a specific location)
• Installing signposts to encourage community environmental awareness (such as clear signs in the countryside for ramblers)
• Recycling projects, such as furniture, glass, and white goods (for example, reclaiming discarded furniture and doing it up to sell)
• Community agricultural projects linking gardeners and producers with local selling opportunities
• Producing artwork in public places and in enclosed spaces (for example, mosaics in parks, sculpture in hospitals)
• Exchange schemes giving opportunities to experience and learn about other environments and community activity
• Learning new environmental skills (such as making garden furniture, dry stonewalling, thatching)