Roy Sharpe / Patient Champions removing bushes to be planted elsewhere in preparation for raised bed for pollinators
Community Hub
Helping you to help nature where you live
Fancy making your neighbourhood a little bit greener and that little bit wilder? You're in the right place! We’re in a nature crisis. This means that without our help, we will lose more and more wildlife – animals, plants, birds and insects. The Community Hub offers you advice on how to help nature while connecting with your community.
How to use the Community Hub
The Community Hub is a place for anyone who wants to do something for nature in their neighbourhood. The resources you will find here offer inspiration, ideas and advice for organising a community project, from funding and finance to working with people and starting your own group.
Click 'Community Hub' on the top left of the screen, beneath the Dorset Wildlife Trust logo to return to this homepage. Click 'Explore Guides' to see a full list of guides which you can filter by topic. You can download a PDF version of any guide if you want to produce a printout for those who do not have digital access.
Click 'Explore Stories' to see a full list of inspiring stories. You can filter the results by the type of project and its location.
What is Nextdoor Nature?
While exploring the Community Hub you may come across the words Nextdoor Nature. That's because this resource is a direct product of the Nextdoor Nature project, a two-year initiative that placed community at the heart of what we do at The Wildlife Trusts, a movement made up of 46 wildlife trusts across the UK.
Nextdoor Nature was made possible thanks to £5 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which provided people with the advice and support they needed to help nature on their doorstep. Thousands of groups across the UK were supported by Nextdoor Nature and its legacy lives on. The Community Hub records the stories of many of these groups and offers advice so that others can follow in their footsteps.
For an overview of Nextdoor Nature across the UK, explore the videos and stories on our interactive webpage.
Get in touch
If you can't find what you're looking for on the Community Hub or would prefer to ask a specific question over the phone or email, we have a dedicated team in place to support individuals and groups in the community.
Featured Guides
These guides tell you how to start a group, how to find funding and everything you need to know about insurance, banks and more.
Featured Stories
Stories are full of ideas to show you how everyday communities can help nature and wildlife all over the UK. You can share your story here too!
Looking for practical tips?
If you're looking for simple things you can do to help wildlife at home, Dorset Wildlife Trust has lots of information on how to do things like build a birdbox, dig a pond, sow wildflowers and lots more.
The Community Hub is a direct product of the Nextdoor Nature project, a 2-year initative made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Nextdoor Nature ended in 2024 but its legacy lives on and will continue to bring communities together to help nature flourish where they live and work!
Except where noted and excluding images, company and organisation logos, this work is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) Licence
Please attribute as: “Nextdoor Nature (2022-2024) by The Wildlife Trusts funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, licensed under CC BY 40”