Open Orchard

Organise an Open Orchard to bring people together, provide free fruit to local residents and green our urban environments.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today"- Chinese proverb

The Open Orchard Project connects communities through fruits and the planting of fruit trees in public places. These trees provide free fruit to local residents and greenery to our urban environments. Open Orchard started in London, England but the idea is just as relevant elsewhe...

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"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today"- Chinese proverb

The Open Orchard Proj...

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Join the communities already benefitting from starting a Open Orchard

You'll get guides and resources on how to bring this idea to life.

There is no funding available for this idea in Ireland, but these resources will still help to make your project happen!

Not in Ireland? Change your region
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“Everyone was focused on getting those trees planted, it was raining as well but that didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. It was just one of those nice things to do and I felt good afterwards.”

Open Orchard
Open Orchard participant
London

How to start a project on ChangeX

  • 1

    Create your project page

    Click the green start button to register and set up your project page. It’s quick, free and easy.

  • 2

    Complete a 30 Day Challenge

    Complete simple steps in 30 days to get your project off the ground.

  • 3

    Activate your project

    Follow the 5 Step Guide and your action plan to bring the project to life.

  • 4

    Share impact

    Share impact by posting a summary and photos and completing a survey.

Great for

  • Enjoys bringing people in the community together
  • Is passionate about learning how to grow fruit trees
  • Is a good communicator

Open Orchard project essentials

5 Step Guide

  • Assemble an Open Orchard team
  • Contact your local council
  • Choose and source your fruit trees
  • Organise and hold the tree planting day
  • Ongoing care by the community

Time

Suggested: You will need approximately 5 hours per week to start a group and then the time required will vary throughout the year: approx 7 hours per week around planting and harvesting and less then 1 hour at other times of the year.

Resources

More information on how to get started and any resources shared by the Open Orchard

339 Open Orchard projects have already been started

See where

Meet the Social Innovator

"Welcome to Open Orchard! I really believe that if more of us were doing things we cared about locally, the world would be better and we’d be much happier. Open Orchard provides a way for people to come out, plant a fruit tree and in so doing connect with neighbors and care for the environment.”

Wayne Trevor, Co-Founder, Open Orchard

339 Open Orchard projects have already been started

See where

Members

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why a 30 day challenge?

    The 30 Day Challenge was developed by our Team based on our experience working with communities. We’ve learned that the first weeks are critical to build momentum and get off to a good start with any community project. Teams who complete these steps within the first month are much more likely to successfully complete their project!

    The Challenge is a series of simple steps that each applicant has to complete to get their project off the ground and unlock funding, if there is funding currently available for that idea in your region. Steps include watching a video and/or reading content, having a call with a ChangeX team member, forming a team so that you have support, having your first team meeting, sharing a team photo, and sharing a project action plan.

  • What can funding be used for?

    Once funding is received it can be used to cover direct set-up costs of the new community project. For example space rental, insurance fees, seeds and planting materials, tools, training fees; pretty much any materials you might need for a project that benefits your community.

    Funds cannot be used for the costs of work that has already been carried out, costs unrelated to the setup and maintenance of the new project, payments to group members for their work on the project. Funds can’t be used for the promotion of religious causes, non-charitable activities, sponsorship or fundraising events. Please read the terms and conditions for further details.

  • How do I know if there is funding available?

    On idea pages, if there is funding available for the idea in your region you will see “Funding available” and the region listed in the turquoise box. When you first login you will also see a green banner at the top of the screen saying “live funds near you” if there is funding available in your region. The ChangeX homepage will feature those live funds near you.

    A note on the waitlist: when all the funding has been allocated to applicants, new applicants will go on a waitlist. If some applicants that are in the fund don’t successfully complete the 30 Day Challenge their funding will be released and can be then allocated to those on the waitlist. To see if you are going on a waitlist check the main fund page, ideas fully allocated will have the note “Join the waitlist” instead of “Apply to start”.

  • What is ChangeX?

    ChangeX is a platform that connects communities to proven ideas and funding.

    By empowering local changemakers with proven ideas from social innovators and accessible funding from our partners, we aim to build healthier, more inclusive and sustainable communities. Our work is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and together with our partners, we aim to impact 1 billion people globally by 2030.

    • Communities: Get the funding, resources and support you need to start impactful projects in your community.
    • Social innovators: Connect with local changemakers, access funding to scale your idea, and impact more communities globally.
    • Funders: Fund the themes and regions they care most about, with measurable impact, and at global scale.

    We believe that by bringing the best social innovations and the world’s changemakers together in a shared community, we can accelerate the spread of innovations across the world and have a bigger impact. Together we aim to unleash the potential of changemakers by enabling collaboration, by sharing knowledge and resources, by connecting changemakers across different disciplines and innovations and by opening up access to the world’s best proven social innovations to everyone.

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