Cascade Funding
Join us in shaping the future of European small forest holdings
SMURF first cascade funding 1st call for small forest owners’ organisations is now open!
Taking knowledge exchange and networking into action, SMURF EU Horizon project is providing up to 200,000 EUR in funding for associations, federations, confederations, consortium or cooperatives of small forest owners to develop various activities.
Call for applications open from 2 September 8:00 CET until 30 October 2024, 17:00 CET.
Summary of the Call
This 1st call for Cascade Funding aims to enhance the participation of organisations of small forest owners in the activities of the SMURF project to get accurate and on the ground information about forest ownership, management practices, forest types, business opportunities and challenges, legal regime, resources and support systems of the small forest holdings across Europe.
For more information on the SMURF project, look at Cordis Europe.
The call will try to fund 40 organizations facilitating knowledge-exchange and enabling lasting institutional networking.
The specific objectives for this call are:
At least 40 forest owners associations and cooperatives, representing the 27 member states, will become collaborators of the project.
To map their situation in Europe (SMURF T2.2.).
Benefit from their experience in the support of Small Forest Holdings and engage them in the Hub of Eu SFH (SMURF T2.1).
In order to extend the project actions and objectives (SMURF T7.2).
Key Information
Title of the call | 1st SMURF open call for small forest owners’ organisations |
Total funding | 200.000 € |
Funding per grant | Lump sum ranging up to €5,000 |
Number of grants to be funded | 40 |
Target applicants | Associations, federations, confederations or cooperatives of small forest owners |
Opening of the call | 02/09/2024 – 08.00 CET |
First online information session | 18/09/2024 – 11.00 CET – Register here |
Second online information session | 16/10/2024 – 11.00 CET – Register here |
Closing of the call | 30/10/2024 – 17.00 CET |
Communication of results | 20/12/2024 |
Duration of the grants | until 31/12/2025 |
Start of the activities | Immediately after sign grant agreement – January 2025 |
Context of the 1st Call
The SMURF project, in line with the EU Forest Strategy, will help promote sustainable and profitable forest management and conserve European forests, developing a set of solutions focused on small forest holdings:
Based on forestry practices closer to nature (CNS – Closer to Nature Sylviculture), which promote new ecosystem services (carbon cultivation and biodiversity) and the valorization of wood and non-wood forest products.
Establishing standardised remuneration policies and systems at regional, national and European level through the creation of a harmonised European Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) system.
This 1st SMURF open call of grants to third parties is launched to ensure the participation of the necessary stakeholders for the development of the SMURF project.
It has been conceived to achieve adequate involvement of small forest owners, via the organisations that cluster them (associations, federations, confederations, cooperatives, etc.).
Thanks to the grants it is intended that at least 40 organisations, representing small scale forest owners across Europe, will be involved in the project. In the design of the criteria for awarding the grants, it is intended that at least one national organisation from each of the EU27 countries is represented.
Future calls within the SMURF project will further support other activities of the project, developing sustainable and profitable forestry solutions for small forest holdings, involving the whole forest-based value chain.
Practical information
There are two main criteria that applicants must meet to be eligible for the grant:
- Applicant is a legal entity based in an EU27 country. This call is not open for applications from natural persons. The legal entity must have a VAT number and an active European bank account.
- The applicant is a legal organization dedicated to representing forest owners. Organisations representing small forest owners, public or private, across 27 EU Member States (like associations, federations, confederations, cooperatives or others similar) at local, regional, national, supranational or European level.
Applicants must be legal organisations representing small forest owners in any of the 27 European Member States.
- It includes associations, federations, confederations and cooperatives of small forest owners.
- It covers local, regional, national, supranational or European levels.
- It considers public or private forests, owned by individuals or collectivities.
At this level, lacking a precise definition and characterization of small forest owners, a forest holding is considered small if it has less than 500 hectares of forest area.
The cascade funding program is designed to benefit one organisation per application; therefore, consortia of applications between organisations will not be admitted for consideration.
Applications not fulfilling the above-stated eligibility criteria will be rejected.
Recipients will receive up to €5,000, as a lump sum, to cover staff, materials, travel, and equipment needed for the required activities.
This sum will be provided upon the justified completion of these activities and the submission of the associated deliverables.
Cascade Funding will be aimed at covering costs that are exclusively considered eligible by the provisions of the Horizon Europe programme.
The total maximum funding allocated for this Call is €200,000.
Up to 40 applicants will be selected, with a maximum grant of €5,000 per applicant.
This will allow for wide, varied, and territorially distributed participation of the forest sector in the project.
If the entire budget is not used up in this first call, the process will be restarted to provide another opportunity to complete the consumption of the funds, in a second call.
It is important to indicate that the funds attached to the Grant Agreement come directly from the funds of the Horizon Europe Project SMURF, which has been funded by the European Commission number 101135516.
Types of activities funded
Activities funded by this call will involve the following; conducting surveys and interviews to characterize associations, forest owners and holdings, legal regime and support systems, participation in the Small Forest Holding Conference and communicate activities and results from SMURF project to your associates.
Please note that by applying to this call you will be indicating that you plan to get involved in all the activities specified in the full call document. The following are a list of the types of activities that qualify for receiving financial support. A comprehensive delineation of the activities encompassed in the project can be found in the full call document.
- Small Forest Holdings and associations characterization (3.000 €)
- Attending conference and networking (1.000 €)
- Communication and dissemination activities (1.000 €)
Evaluation Process
The evaluation committee will evaluate the applications considering the award criteria defined in previous sections of this document and the phases outlined in the table below.
| Phase | Description process | Timeline |
| ► Assignment of the applications to the evaluators | Applications will be randomly distributed among two evaluators from the evaluation committee | 18/11/2024 |
| ► Individual evaluation | Each eligible application will be reviewed independently by the two evaluators | 29/11/2024 |
| ► Joint evaluation and list with scores | The value of the two evaluations for each application are compared and a list of applications with scores is made by Cesefor | 6/12/2024 |
| ► Final evaluation of applications and ranked list of evaluations | The overall ranking of applications is conducted, and final selection decisions are made | 13/12/2024 |
| ► Communication of results to the applicants | Results will be communicated to the applicants via email with feedback from the consensus reports | 20/12/2024 |
Annexes
Application process
Relevant dates | |
Opening of the 1st call | 02/09/2024 – 8:00 CET |
Online information sessions | 18/09/2024 and 16/10/2024 – 11:00 CET |
Closing of the 1st call | 30/10/2024 – 17.00 CET |
Communication of results to the applicants | 20/12/2024 |
Only one application per organisation is allowed.
Applicants are requested to submit their applications online through the project website. The application form will be entirely filled on the online SMURF project website as specified on the application platform. The information requested in this form can be found in Annex 1.
Also, an Application signature and commitment letter is required and for this document, the use of the template is mandatory (Annex 2) – please refrain from deleting any sections and adhere to the specifications stated in the documents – font-size Century Gothic 10. This document should be signed by an authorised representative of the organisation and submitted in pdf format.
The application is considered complete if the following items are submitted:
1) Online Application form.
2) Application signature and commitment letter signed by applicant representatives to comply with the project activities (Annex 2).
For the application to be admissible, it is mandatory to complete all fields in the online application form and also, to check all the fields indicated in the commitment letter. Incomplete applications will not be admitted for consideration.
The deadline for this call is the 30th of October at 17:00 CET.
Once the deadline is finished the applicant will not be able to submit an application and an email with a “call closed” message will be received.
Further information and assistance
Read through the Annex 4-FAQ related to the Call.
Should you have any questions please contact us using the call identifier “1st SMURF open call for small forest owners’ organisations” through the following channels:
- Email: info@smurfproject.eu
- Contact: Cesefor – 0034 975 21 24 53
Future SMURF cascade funding calls
A second call with a budget of €800,000 is planned to engage organisations in other SMURF project activities, such as attending workshops and trainings, setting up living labs focused on new business models and demonstrative stands for close-to-nature silviculture, promoting pilot projects for carbon credits, and communicating and disseminating activities during the years 2026 and 2027.
This second call is expected to open in January 2025 and close in April 2025, with the results scheduled to be published in July 2025.
If the entire budget of €200,000 from the first call is not fully utilized, the process will be restarted to provide another opportunity to complete the consumption of the funds as part of the second call.
Organisations may apply to one or both calls. Even if they are beneficiaries of the first call, they can still be eligible for the second call.
The second call will have a new website within the SMURF – CASCADE FUNDING platform. Once the announcement begins, the homepage will feature specific links and websites for each call.
Cascade funding information, processes and events
Events in September 2024
-
Opening of the first call Opening of the first call
2 September 2024
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