West Berkshire & North Hampshire

Greenham Common Trust has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development 2012, making it the first charity ever to win three times.

Having previously won the award in 2003 and 2008, the trust has been recognised once again for its continued regeneration of RAF Greenham Common airbase into a sustainable business park.

Since starting in 1997, the Trust has transformed 150-acres of the former nuclear airbase into a mixed-use business park with 150 businesses employing around 1,500 people. Greenham Business Park along with its other assets, including a counselling centre and voluntary organisations, produces an annual income of around £3 million a year that is distributed to local causes and projects.

Sir Peter Michael, Chairman and co-founder of the Greenham Common Trust, says “To be the first charity to have received The Queen’s Award for a third time is not only an incredible honour but an acknowledgment of the Trust’s innovative and radical approach to sustainable development.”

Stuart Tagg, the Trust’s Chief Executive, adds “The management of the Trust’s investment has enabled millions of pounds to be channelled into the community through its focus on economic development, social projects and ecological balance.”

Last year Greenham Common Trust launched findmeagrant, an online grant application which matches grant givers to local fundraisers and administers public donations (adding Trust matched funding and Gift Aid where applicable) free of charge.

So far http://www.findmeagrant.org/ has raised in excess of £300,000 for local organisations and nearly £100,000 in donations and Trust-Top Up (the matched funding element).