The Adventure Playground Fund is a £500,000 fund designed to support adventure playgrounds in England to build financial resilience.
Jump to: What to expect | Eligibility | Priorities | Application Process | FAQs
Outdoor child-led play that enables appropriate risk-taking is valuable in childhood[1]. Adventure playgrounds are among the few places designed to allow children these experiences. Unlike traditional playgrounds, adventure playgrounds are staffed spaces that prioritise unstructured play and child-led activities.
However, adventure playgrounds face deep funding challenges, which threaten their survival. The number of adventure playgrounds has declined by a quarter since 2017[2].
The Adventure Playground Fund will provide playgrounds with:
- One-off funding to alleviate immediate funding pressures, and
- Practical support to secure their long-term future.
What Grantees Can Expect
- One-off unrestricted grants of £20,000 to £50,000 per playground.
- Practical, expert-led sessions on topics that grantees identify as their biggest challenges (e.g., community asset transfer, covenants, impact measurement, funding opportunities).
- Shared learning (good and bad) from other adventure playgrounds that are also navigating these challenges.
Eligibility
A playground is eligible to apply if:
- It satisfies the following criteria for an adventure playground: is free of charge; allows children to come and go as they wish; gives children freedom to choose how they play; is staffed by skilled playworkers; embraces the benefits of risk; and gives children access to natural space[3].
- It is a registered charity or community interest company (if the latter, note that grants will be restricted to charitable purposes).
- It is committed to improving its long-term resilience. We expect grantees to attend four hour-long practical sessions, which will provide support in areas grantees have identified as their biggest challenges.
Priorities
In the case that the fund receives more applications than there is available funding, we will prioritise playgrounds that:
- Support a low-income community
- Are open regularly
- Face demonstrable funding challenges
- Have leaders committed to the adventure play model
- Are committed to exploring sustainable funding models
- Are willing to share learning with the fund and other playgrounds.
We expect the majority of funds to be distributed to playgrounds outside of London.
Application Process
Applications can be made by filling out the application form below by 12 noon on Friday 20th March 2026.
The form is intentionally brief: we intend to review applications quickly, given the urgency of funding challenges. Please stick to the word limits.
Applications will be reviewed by a panel which has experience of adventure play and other playwork, and of working with local authorities. We will contact you if we need any further information to fully consider your application.
We expect to make decisions by the end of April 2026.
FAQs
How much funding can a successful applicant expect to receive?
The maximum grant size is £50,000. In general, we will limit grants to 25% of prior-year income, unless exceptional circumstances apply. We expect the median grant size will be ~£30,000.
How many grants do you expect to make?
We expect to make grants to 15-20 organisations.
What topics will the practical, expert-led sessions focus on?
We are asking applicants to identify their pressing challenges as part of the application process. We will design the sessions around these needs with input from experts working across the sector.
We are a local authority-run playground. Can we apply?
Unfortunately, the fund can only support adventure playgrounds which are run by a registered charity or community interest company. Playgrounds that receive the majority of their funding from a local authority are eligible, as long as the legal entity is a registered charity or community interest company.
Please can you explain the open-access requirement?
We expect eligible adventure playgrounds to allow children to come-and-go as they wish, unless that is not reasonable for reasons of disability or safeguarding. We know that some adventure playgrounds are in receipt of funding from the Holiday and Activity Fund which requires them to book children onto sessions. If this applies to you, your playground is still eligible, so long as other children who turn up for a session are not turned away.
Where is the funding coming from?
The funding is a personal donation from Alex Gerko.
I have other questions. Who can I ask?
If you have any questions not addressed here, you can email [email protected].
Please note that we are a small team, so we may not be able to respond immediately. We are not available to have phone calls with prospective applicants.
[1] - Free Play in Early Childhood: A literature review
[2] - Play England Report into Adventure Playgrounds in England and Playwork Foundation’s Adventure Playground List
[3] - Adapted from London Play’s definition