May Funding Finder
Welcome back to our monthly Funding Finder! Our April edition had a very positive response, so we are excited to bring you the latest funding opportunities across the region & nationally.
The funds and funding sources have been picked out as they are the most suitable to our members. The vast majority of these funds are for climate action projects whether they are mitigation, adaptation or general environmental projects. From time to time we may feature general community organisation funding that could be useful for a handful of our members.
While the vast majority of these funds are being carried on from the April Funding Finder, we do have some exciting new opportunities to bring your attention to - notably the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival Funding! Read on to find out how we can support your involvement at the Festival this September.
Highlands & Islands Climate Festival Event Fund | 28th June
Max award: £150
Open to community or voluntary organisations in Highland, Orkney or Shetland Islands Local Authority areas. Contribution of £150 to your organisation to stage an event from 1st - 30th September 2024 as part of the Highlands and Islands Climate Festival!
Highlands & Islands Climate Festival Larger Events Proposal |
14th June
Max award: No specification
Do you have an idea for a larger event for the Highlands and Islands Climate Festival? Whilst we can make no guarantees at this stage we are looking at various avenues for additional funding and sponsorship including the potential to match you to a local business sponsor in your area. We look forward to hearing your creative plans!
Closing Soon
D’Oyly Carte Chartiable Trust | 23rd May 2024 | Mitigation
Min award: £500 | Max award: £6,000
Funds UK registered charities operating in the fields of:
Advancement of the arts
Health
Medical welfare
Environmental protection or improvement
Will consider applications for core costs or projects
The Finnis Scott Foundation | 23rd May 2024 | General
Max award: £10,000
Although the Trustees may make grants for any charitable purpose, their current policy is to focus their grant making in the areas of: Horticulture (gardening), plant sciences, fine art and art history. The funding can be used for both capital and revenue projects.
Generally grants of up to £10,000 will be considered; however, because of the high demand, most grants are currently £5,000 or less. Exceptionally, when funds permit, grants of as much as £60,000 are made, payable over several years.
UK charities registered with the Charity Commission, which includes charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) and parent teacher associations (PTAs) of special schools, may apply. Preference is given to smaller charities where the grant would have a significant impact. In the case of private individuals, the Trustees usually require a grant to be made through a sponsoring educational establishment or registered charity.
Community Fund - SafeDeposits Scotland | 31st May 2024 | General
Max award: £5,000
This year the SafeDeposits Scotland Community Fund will award grants up to a maximum value of £5,000 to organisations who commit to deliver a project that meets at least one of five criteria, namely:
Sustainability and the environment
Employability and career skills
Social inclusion
Technology and digital inclusion
Improving the local community
The aim of the SafeDeposits Scotland Community Fund is to contribute to initiatives that will benefit people across Scotland. Grants will be awarded on a quarterly basis, with up to three grants available in each quarterly funding round. Interested parties are invited to submit an application by one of the following dates, to be considered for the subsequent funding round: Friday 31st May 2024 Friday 30th August 2024 Friday 29th November 2024 Friday 28th February 2025.
Energise Programme - Bank of Scotland | 6th June 2024 | General
Max award: £20,000
Bank of Scotland Foundation recognises the profound impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on people across Scotland. To ensure their funding can reach those in real need, the Energise grants programme for 2024 will solely focus on helping charities who support vulnerable groups/people.
Their Energise programme provides unrestricted funding. Unrestricted funding gives charities much greater scope to cover all essential costs and deal with challenges quickly and effectively. Unrestricted funding can be used towards core costs, delivery costs, project costs and/or general running costs enabling charities to use their funding in the way that helps them best.
Grants for Good - Matthew Good Foundation | 15th June 2024 | General
Max award: £5,000
Every three months, five shortlisted projects will be voted for by John Good Group employees. These five charities will all receive a share of £15,000 – the more votes a cause receives, the bigger the donation.
They will support small organisations that have a positive impact on communities, people or the environment. Every three months, they share £15,000 between 5 shortlisted projects. Following the vote, the project that receives the most votes will receive a grant of £5,000, second place £3,500, third place £2,500 and fourth and fifth place will both receive £2,000. Max annual income of £50,000
Better Community Business Network Grant Initative | 16th June 2024 | General
Max award: £3,000
Funding is intended to improve the quality of life and expectations of people and their communities, especially those who come from disadvantaged or socially deprived backgrounds. Grants of up to £3,000 are available. There is a total funding pot of £36,000 each year, with 12 grants awarded annually. Causes supported by the funders include, but are not limited to: Natural disasters & Regeneration projects.
Caithness & North Sutherland Fund | 26th June 2024 | General
Max award: £30,000
Funding is available for projects that increase the attractiveness of Caithness & North Sutherland as a place to live, work and invest with particular emphasis on achieving environment, social, culture and infrastructure improvements.
National
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Max award: £5,000
The funding aims to support specific UK-based environmental, conservation and community renewable energy projects. The theme for the current round is soil health.
Applications are accepted from a range of UK based organisations, including charities, social enterprises, voluntary organisations, small grassroots community groups and businesses.
To be eligible, the organisation and/or project must:
Be entirely based in the UK.
Have a website or social media presence.
The latest round of funding is targeted towards projects and initiatives working to combat the problem of soil degradation, the way land is managed and increasing soil organic matter levels in UK arable and horticultural soils in the next 20 years.
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Max award: £25,000
They support projects under the following categories:
Enabling participation in physical activity
Enabling participation in the arts
Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
Supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality
Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors
Providing support to improve mental health (Focus on organisations that actively support specific mental health issues)
The funding offered is unrestricted and therefore flexible. It can be used however it is most needed.
The amount requested should not exceed 1/3 (one third) of your total income on the annual accounts submitted with your application.
Constituted voluntary organisations with no charity number can apply for up to £2,500. Registered charities, CICs with an asset lock and community benefit societies can apply for up to £25,000.
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Max award: £30,000
Unrestricted grants are available to enable small charities in the UK to grow, strengthen or become more efficient or resilient. The Fore provides unrestricted grants to small charities and social enterprises based in the UK.
The funding is intended to have a transformational impact on the organisations being supported by unlocking exponential growth, sustainability, efficiency or some other major step forward.
There is particular interest in grassroots organisations working with underserved communities. The grants are viewed by the Fore as investments in the organisations it supports.
The Fore funds work across the following charitable sectors:
Arts and culture
Disability
Economic development and employability
Environment
Health and well being
Housing and homelessness
Human rights, law and justice
Poverty and disadvantage
Sport
Women and girls
Youth and education
The funding is intended to help strengthen the organisation internally and help it to take the next step forward in its growth or sustainability. This unrestricted funding can be used for any purpose, including core costs and capital funding.
Applications for core costs must show how the funding will move the organisation forward rather than enabling ‘business as usual’.
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Min award: £2,500 | Max award: £25,000
Funding can cover capital, revenue and core costs. Will fund environmental projects with no particular focus area. Applications can be made at any time however next time scale is 16 April - 15 July for applications to be reviewed in mid September and decisions in early October
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Min award: £25,000 | Max award: £250,000
Funded by The Scottish Government, The Nature Restoration Fund encourages applicants with projects that restore wildlife and habitats on land and sea and address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.
The Fund will support a mix of urban and rural-focused projects, such as improving greenspace for outdoor learning, green active travel routes, planting of wildlife corridors and natural flood management. They invite projects requesting a grant of £25,000 to £250,000 to be delivered over a maximum of 2 years, although projects delivering over a single financial year are welcome.
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Max award: £5,000
The objectives of the Trust are:
To promote horticulture.
To promote the conservation of the physical and natural environment by promoting biological diversity.
To promote the creation, development, preservation and maintenance of gardens accessible to the public.
The advancement of horticultural education.
Grants ranged from a few hundred pounds to £5,000. Only one grant is usually made for each project but it is possible for subsequent grants to be made to the same individual or organisation for a new project or an additional component of the original project over two or three years.
Grants are available for individuals, organisations and institutions in the UK (and outside the UK at the discretion of the Trustees) carrying out projects of significance to:
Horticulture
Gardening
Botany, with a strong horticultural element.
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Max award: £2,500
The Fat Beehive Foundation is an independent UK registered charity that provides small grants for websites and digital products to other small UK registered charities. Our aim is to help these organisations carry out their work in a more efficient and effective way, resulting in positive social benefit.
We only fund charities with an average income of less than £400,000 a year. As we aren’t a large funder, we provide highly specialised grants up to £2500 and can’t fund every charity that applies to us – much as we would like to. We focus purely on hard-to-fund digital expenditure that other funders will often not cover.
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Max award: £500,000
They will fund formal partnership projects that reach more people by either:
linking climate action to the everyday lives and interests of local communities. And inspiring them to take action.
influencing communities at a regional or national level. Like linking up groups across locations. Or a campaign that inspires change across one country, or the whole UK. They want to reach people who are new to climate action by funding other types of organisations too. And by using people’s everyday activities as a starting point for climate action.
They are particularly interested in projects that involve people, places and communities experiencing poverty, discrimination and disadvantage.
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Max award: £80,000
Funding is available for many types of community buildings, including: community cafes, community hubs, faith buildings, public halls, community halls and centres. CARES supports communities to engage, participate and benefit in the energy transition to net zero.
They will support projects that:
Accelerate the uptake of community and locally owned renewable energy, to meet Scotland’s 2030 2GW ambition
Support community involvement in local energy systems that lead to new installations of locally owned renewable energy generation
Support shared ownership projects (where a community group invests in a commercial renewable energy project)
Assist communities to maximise the impact from community benefit funds through community consultation, action planning and good governance
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Max award: £25,000
This is a Government initiative which was introduced to reduce the impact of landfill sites on neighbouring communities by funding local environmental projects. The aim of the scheme is to enable landfill operators to support various types of environmental projects by donating a percentage of their landfill tax liability.
Projects must conform to one of the following criteria:
projects that involve reclaiming land, the use of which has been prevented by some previous activity
projects that reduce or prevent pollution on land
projects that provide or maintain public amenities or parks within 10 miles of a landfill site
delivery of biodiversity conservation for UK species habitats
projects to restore or repair buildings for religious worship, or of architectural or historical interest within 10 miles of a landfill site
community based recycling, re-use and waste prevention projects
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Max award: £25,000
Valencia Communities Fund supports community, heritage and biodiversity projects located within 10 miles of any active landfill site or transfer station accepting 2,500 tonnes of waste.
Applications to Valencia Communities Fund must be for distinct, whole projects and may be part of a phase of works of a larger project of no more than £100,000.
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Max award: £5,000
Funding can be used for core and project costs for charities registered in the UK. To be eligible charities must have an annual income over £50,000 and under £2,000,000. They are interested in charities working in environment and conservation which demonstrate:
Building strong communities and understanding how to engage with intended beneficiaries
Replicable and sustainable work
Value for money i.e. the costs vs the number of people reached and the scale of the programme
Maximising the use of volunteers
Support for older people
Support for marginalised/vulnerable younger people
Use of helplines and information support services
Sustainability of funding i.e. the charity will not be solely reliant on the grant for their work
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Max award: £50,000
SUEZ Communities Trust provides funds to undertake work that is eligible under the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund (SLCF). Applications are considered for the five main areas of work:
Land Reclamation (Object A): The reclamation, remediation, restoration or other operation on land to facilitate economic, social or environmental use
Community Recycling (Object B): Community based recycling, re-use and waste prevention projects
Public Amenities (Object C): To provide, maintain or improve an amenity that is used primarily for leisure and recreation. The amenity must be open to all sections of the community for at least 104 days a year
Biodiversity (Object D): The conservation of biodiversity through the provision, conservation, restoration or enhancement of a natural habitat or the maintenance or recovery of a species in its natural habitat
Not-for-profit basis groups e.g. community groups, parish councils, charities, community interest companies, sports clubs, community associations, local authorities and voluntary organisations who own or hold a lease for the project site with at least 5 years remaining.
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Max award: £20,000
Funds are focused on capital improvements that seek to support the development or improvement of facilities that will enable more people to cycle. Capital costs are generally assets, such as bikes, equipment, tools etc. Proposals for complementary activities to support behaviour change may be considered where there is a direct link to capital elements, e.g. bike maintenance training in conjunction with procurement of maintenance equipment.
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Max award: £250
SEAD provides small grants for individuals or groups for positive action, and campaigning. They fund proposals where the grant will have the most impact, for example, helping a new campaign to get started, or funding a specific concrete action for a local community.
They are particularly interested in applications that focus campaign activity on the following areas: women’s rights, young people and their global rights, climate justice, inequality, poverty and health justice.
Notes on award amounts: Grants are typically £100 - £250. Annual total from 2021 accounts.
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Max award: £500
The Greener Spaces, Fairer Places small grants scheme supports the work of faith groups taking small scale local actions which address the link between climate change and poverty.
Local faith groups registered as charities in Scotland, whose annual income is normally lower than £80,000, and who normally employ no more than 2 full-time equivalent staff members. Please note that we prioritise our grant awards towards groups with minimal resources.
Grants of up to £500 are available for local action around the following themes:
Community mobilising (eg events in your community bringing people together on climate action; outdoor installations & recycling; banner/ poster-making to raise awareness)
More effective use of community land (eg using land to grow food, create a community garden)
Respecting the environment (eg organising a local clean up, using buildings in a more eco-friendly way)
Local action on reducing fuel consumption (eg supporting sustainable energy use)
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Min award: £250 | Max award: £1,000
‘Pockets and Prospects‘ grants to SCCAN member organisations are intended to help you to reach out and engage more widely across your community, to initiate collaboration and joining up of climate activity with wider issues of inequality and disadvantage such as food/fuel poverty, climate justice etc.
They invite bids on less than two sides of A4 on a first come first served basis, to johanna@sccan.scot
Please ensure you provide name of SCCAN Member Organisation, Contact Name and full contact details along with summary budget – between £250 and £1,000 – for the activities, and a short (one page) description of what the grant will enable you to do.
Please include a description of your current activities/approach and how the grant will change this and how you will monitor and evaluate the quantitative and qualitative impact of the proposed activity.
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Max award: £1,500
The grant scheme is open for applications and will provide grants of up to £1500 to support projects focused on children and families. The scheme is open to registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, via an on-line application form.
Local projects that focus on helping children and families. Tesco Community Grants will fund local good causes that focus on supporting children and families.
Funding pots of £500, up to £1000 and up to £1500 will be available for projects and Tesco customers will be able to choose which project receives the most funding by voting in store every time they shop.
The scheme is open to registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, via an on-line application form.
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Max award: £500
Small, one-off grants are available for the benefit of local communities around Scotmid stores. Activities should focus on one of the following categories:
Children/Education (eg. schools groups)
Health (eg. promotion of healthy eating)
Fairtrade
Homelessness/Poverty
Arts and Culture (eg. community musical festivals)
Environment (eg. promoting a clean/healthy environment)
Elderly
Active Lifestyles (eg. encouraging exercise/fitness/sport)
The group or project must be based in or benefit a community served by one of our stores and within the geographic boundaries of one of Scotmid's Regional Committees.
There are no deadlines, however you must apply at least eight weeks prior to when the grant is required.
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Max award: £5,000
Grants up to £5,000 are available to support voluntary and community organisations, development trusts, social enterprises, charities and local authorities for projects and activities that encourage people to use woods more.
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Max award: £15,000
The Tree Council and Network Rail are once again working in partnership to deliver a programme of community tree planting for the 2023/24 tree planting season.
Together, we have already planted more than 300,000 trees in 108 communities across the UK. For the 2023/24 tree planting season we will award funding for projects in three bands:
Main Grants - Projects between £2,500 and £5,000
Large Grants - Projects between £5,000 and £15,000
Flagship Grants - Projects over £15,000
Flagship Grants will be awarded in limited numbers to those projects that deliver a significant impact across our programme priorities. If you are interested in applying to this fund, please email grants@treecouncil.org.uk to find out more.
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Max award: £100,000
The types of grant we make, no matter what size, tend to fall into one of three areas:
operating/core costs
capital projects
projects/specific activities
We fund organisations working in the following areas:
Arts
Community
Education
Environment
Faith
Health
Museums and Heritage
Welfare
Youth
Don’t worry if your organisation works in more than one of these areas. We don’t earmark funds for specific areas of work or geographic regions. Any eligible organisation that meets our funding criteria has a fair chance of being funded.
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Max award: £5,000
The Community Right to Buy Fund provides support for communities to access professional services, where needed, to help with registering an interest under Community Right to Buy legislation. This could include legal title searches or help with mapping.
Communities can apply for up to £5,000 to help with registering a community interest in land/buildings through the Community Right to Buy legislation.
If you’re struggling to complete the application – we’re here to offer help and advice. Get in touch to discuss your proposal. If your problem is complicated and requires specialist professional services – perhaps legal issues around land ownership or boundaries – we have small grants available through our Community Right to Buy Fund. A grant of up to £5,000 for up to 80% of costs may be available to your organisation.
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Fund total: £11,000
The aim of the new Scottish Learning Fund is to enable early-stage and / or small community-based groups in Scotland who are involved in marine conservation activities to learn, share knowledge, network and develop skills with other groups.
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Individual award: £500 - £2000
Team award: £1000 - £5000
The Future Routes Fund is for young people, by young people. The fund supports projects run by 11-26-year-olds and aims to help young people improve their local environment, provide more opportunities for them to connect with nature, increase their knowledge and understanding of Scottish biodiversity, and empower them to take positive action for nature and the climate.
Local & Regional Funds
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Max award: £25,000
The community fund can support projects which build the sustainability of the local communities as vibrant places to live, work and visit, and support the development of a range of activities and services available to the community such as:
The running costs of groups
Employees or essential workers
Cost consultation and feasibility studies
Events and festivals
The cost of purchasing equipment
Maintenance or refurbishment of community facilities
Projects in the following community council areas can apply: Bettyhill, Strathnaver and Altnaharra.
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Max award: £15,000
Supports projects in the Scottish Highlands and Islands which fit into one of the Foundation's areas of interest:
Montane
Fresh water
Marine and coastal
Forest and woodland
Your project should create measurable and sustainable long-term results, build capacity and encourage participation by the local society.
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Max award: £200
The aim of the grant scheme is to offer small, easily accessible grants to promote the reuse, repurposing, and recycling of waste in Orkney.
The grant is open to applications from:
Individuals from age 5 (supported by parent/guardian when applicant under 16 years old)
Community organisations
Schools
Church Groups
Charitable Groups
The scheme will run for two grant periods a year (Spring and Autumn).
Applicants can only apply once within a grant period and the money must be spent within 1 year.
Grants will be awarded for project associated with:
Waste Repurposing and Reuse
Waste Reduction
Waste Recycling
Travel within Orkney associated with the aims of the grant
Training within the aims of the grant
Please email OZW Administrator Nicky Getgood at orkzerowaste@gmail.com for an application form.
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Max award: £500
Groups must be members of the TCV Community Network prior to applying for a TCV Chestnut Fund grant.
The grants fall into two categories – ‘Start-up’ grants and ‘Support’ grants.
Start-up Grants
These are for groups who have little or no money when they are first set up and are available to groups in their first year of existence.
The grant will enable them to begin practical work and will cover administrative expenses, e.g. insurance fees, postage, publicity or hire of meeting rooms.
The maximum grant will be £200.
Support Grants
These are for groups who have little or no money for tools, equipment and training.
This grant is available to all groups, regardless of how long they have been constituted.
The maximum grant will be £500.
Groups within their first year can apply for both the start-up grant and the support grant. We are keen to support our members to make applications and our Community Network Coordinator is available to help you with any questions you may have.
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Max award: £2,000
“Infrastructure” can cover everything from new waste bins, additional signs, or renovations to community tree planting, redecorating the village hall, or creating a wildflower meadow. The overall aim is to create more resilient community structures and spaces for the region, and to make the North Highlands an even better place to live.
The programme will consider grants of up to £2,000 which fit at least one of the following priorities:
Litter, recycling and waste capacity within the local area, including public toilets and motorhome facilities
Creation and identification of designated visitor parking areas, esp. for larger vehicles
More effective visitor signage and information on local facilities or amenities
Community well–being services that make our communities better places to live and work.
Community centers and spaces that bring your communities together
Sustainability and environmental Improvements and he encouragement of biodiversity or green spaces
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Max award: £10,000
All projects that they support have to meet our charitable objectives and in particular must contribute to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and finite resources.
Your project should seek to address the climate emergency and ways of living that are consistent with the resource limits of the planet. We are particularly interested in:
Applications from grassroots organisations challenging current unsustainable practice
Applicants attentive to equality, equity and fairness
Small to medium size projects where Pebble Trust funding forms a major part of project costs
Projects where our funding will make a real difference to making the project happen
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Max award: £100,000
The Community Development Fund supports a wide range of local capital projects, such as sports facilities, gardens, slipways, village halls, heritage centres, play parks and exhibitions.
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Max award: £10,000
The broad aim of the Heart of the Community Grant Trust is to provide financial grants for community projects that deliver lasting change within the regions in which the Company operates. Those regions are: Shetland, Orkney, Highland and Argyll.
The over-arching principle for grant allocation will be to deliver lasting change within communities using the following criteria:
Health and Health Promotion
Education
Personal Development that leads to the enhancement of a community
Community Projects that benefit the majority
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Max award: £25,000
Through the Economic Development grant scheme, financial assistance is provided to assist applicants with the costs related to developing projects, where these projects meet key eligibility criteria and will result in extensive local benefits.
Projects applying for assistance under the Economic Development Grant Scheme will be expected to demonstrate that a number of the following primary outcomes can realistically be achieved:
Improved product quality
Import substitution
New market development
Improved productivity
Improved service delivery
Introduce new or improved manufacturing processes
Introduce new business activity
Projects which cannot demonstrate that they will achieve one or more of the above primary outcomes will not be considered for grant assistance.
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Max award: £100,000
The Shetland Islands Council Coastal Communities Fund offers grants of between £5,000 and £100,000 to projects that support the community and economic development of Shetland by investing in infrastructure, community capacity building, developing community assets and encouraging inclusive growth. Coastal Communities funding may be used to:
develop and regenerate Shetland communities, including infrastructure and community assets
create and safeguard sustainable economic growth and jobs
provide rural communities with the means and opportunity to address issues of poverty, access and inclusion, disadvantage and inequality
contribute to the net zero agenda through carbon reduction and renewable energy
support communities to develop projects that promote and develop local resilience in areas such as food supply, connectivity and energy
support community capacity building and community development
support opportunities for skills development and learning experiences
add value to Shetland’s economy through collective efforts including supporting the promotion of local produce and facilities, developing new products and external markets, and improving sustainability
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Max award: £100,000
The Cairngorms National Park Authority Climate Adaptation Fund has been established to support, capital works and investment in response to the changes that we have seen in our climate over the last few decades, and preparing for the challenges that we will face as our climate continues to change.