An independent charity uniting councils, farmers, communities, businesses and conservation groups behind the care of the Belfast Hills. A RiverRidge grant funded much-needed equipment for volunteers, Trainee Rangers and school groups – litter pickers for school clean-ups and billhooks, scythes and saws for hedge laying, grassland management and woodland maintenance. It also equipped the group’s Native Tree Nursery, where volunteers grow trees from locally collected seed for planting across Belfast, Lisburn, Antrim and Newtownabbey.
Growing Greener Communities, One Grant at a Time
The RiverRidge Environmental Trust funds community environmental projects across Northern Ireland – protecting local landscapes, waterways and wildlife.
In partnership with the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, we award grants to grassroots groups near our sites in Mallusk, Coleraine, Derry-Londonderry and Portadown. We’ve now funded more than 20 local organisations, backing up to 14 projects each year. From protecting curlews and bees to creating community nature gardens and restoring the waterways around Lough Neagh, our grants prove that lasting environmental change starts locally – and as the Trust grows, so does our ambition, with larger grants planned ahead.
In Partnership with the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland
Championing communities across Northern Ireland
We’re proud to deliver the RiverRidge Environmental Trust in partnership with the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, whose expertise and dedication have been central to its success. Their deep understanding of local communities, careful stewardship of every grant, and genuine passion for environmental change ensure that funding reaches the grassroots groups who need it most – and makes the greatest difference. We’re grateful for their continued partnership and for the vital work they do in strengthening communities right across Northern Ireland.
Crumlin & District Angling Association
Continuous monitoring for a river under pressure
This grant funded water monitoring equipment to track and improve water quality along the Crumlin River, which rises in the Belfast Hills and flows through Dundrod and Crumlin town on to Lough Neagh. The in-situ kit gathers continuous data over weeks without daily site visits, and the club is now training other clubs across the catchment in its use – extending the benefit far beyond a single river and supporting the wider fight to protect Lough Neagh.
Belfast Hills Partnership
Equipment for practical conservation
Kells Conor and Glenwherry Angling Club
A river restoration built to last
This grant helped power the next phase of an ambitious river restoration programme on the Kells river. Far from a one-off, this work forms part of a wider multi-funder strategy – including a concurrent project backed by the Environment Fund’s Water Quality Improvement Strand — with total costs exceeding £45,000. RiverRidge’s contribution is a key enabler, supporting the kind of sustained, measurable stewardship that delivers lasting improvements to water quality and aquatic biodiversity.
Forest Connections Community Benefit Society - Incredible Edibles, Garvagh
Growing green from the ground up
This grant is brought herb planters to five Garvagh housing estates – Mettican, Lyttlesdale, Clintonville, Demesne and Killyvally – with volunteer ‘guardians’ trained to tend and propagate the herbs, plus a community cooking demonstration. The herbs are grown by volunteers, including children from Garvagh Community Playgroup, in a shared greenhouse on the local high school site. Building on a thriving initiative that created ‘hare’s corners’ of urban greenery, the project embeds green growing into everyday community life and connects residents to local food production.
Agivey Anglers Association - The Green Bank Restoration
Protecting the river, keeping fishing open to all
This grant funded the reprofiling and reseeding of a repeatedly flood-damaged riverbank at ‘the Green’, a popular fishing spot on the Agivey. The work created a more resilient bank that cuts the sediment washing into the river – protecting water quality and aquatic habitat downstream – while spawning gravel has also been added to support fish populations. Crucially, the project preserves the accessible walkway installed for older and disabled anglers. It’s a project that delivers on two fronts at once, ecological and social, standing as a model of environmentally informed, community-responsive design.
Supporting Environmental Projects Across Our Communities
The RiverRidge Environmental Trust is proud to support grassroots groups delivering meaningful environmental change across Northern Ireland. Please see below lists of groups that received funding in 2025 and 2026 rounds of the Environmental Trust.