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East Ayrshire Council offers a wide range of grants to voluntary organisations. Grants are intended to provide or maintain cultural, social, welfare, recreational or sporting facilities or to promote these activities. The grants are also provided to assist community-based projects that are in the interests of local areas or the environment.

The fund provides organisations with financial help to organise events and activities for residents in their area. Depending on the criteria, funds may be awarded for:- improving the appearance of the area- attracting people into the area- positively raising the profile of the area- promoting awareness of the area- contributing to a larger scale project with a longer term goalThe criteria for each area can be found on the Council website.

The Area Committee has a small budget which can be used to 'top up' other funding sources in cases where otherwise there would be inadequate funding to allow something to happen. They will favour projects which respond to local needs and show clear evidence of community economic development and emerged from, or take cognisance of: - Community Action Plans- Settlement Plans- Town Centre First approach- The Local Community Plan: Strong Communities, Wellbeing and Connecting People- Local Place Plans- Community Empowerment Act, in support of the assembly of for example business plans or feasibility studiesPlease note that this fund is for projects taking place with the Kincardine and Mearns area only. See the website for full criteria.

The Foundation was established by the family of Sir Robert McAlpine and gives grants to support small charities situated throughout the UK that fall within specific categories:- Children- Social- Elderly- Youth- Medical ResearchThey particularly like to support projects where funding can make a real difference.

The Youth Scotland Rural Action Fund is a Micro Grant fund being supported by The Gannochy Trust. This fund has been created in response to the challenges which rural youth groups are facing in funding the delivery of community based universal youth work. It will make small awards to enable youth groups operating in rural communities to provide more and/or better youth work opportunities for young people.The priority for this fund is to support/enable typical youth work activities that directly benefit young people in rural youth groups.Not to be confused with the [Youth Scotland - Rural Activate Fund](https://funding.scot/funds/a0RP1000008hNXpMAM/youth-scotland-rural-activate-fund).

The Foundation makes donations to registered charities which are active in such sectors as the arts and culture, medical & health, the environment and education, care and support of the young and elderly, people with disabilities and the under-privileged. So long as the object is charitable, the Trustees will consider any application from a registered charity.They are particularly interested in applications from parts of Scotland where the local economy and/or circumstances make fundraising for charitable purposes difficult.

The "Our Local Nature" Grants are available to fund innovative projects, designed and led by young people in the UK. It aims to empower young people across the UK to take the lead on projects that involve their local nature and natural spaces.The grant is purposefully broad and welcomes novel ideas. Examples of possible proposals include:- running a school festival about nature- painting community murals showcasing biodiversity in the area- building a community garden- creating a nature walk- hiring a speaker to come and talk about local foraging.Adult applicants should develop their proposal alongside young people and the projects should seek to affect change or empower local young people and their surrounding communities to increase access to natural spaces and improve understanding of the local biodiversity.

The Trust awards grants to organisations based in the West of Scotland working to improve recreational facilities for young people, older people and those who are unemployed. The trustees prefer to give towards specific items of equipment or projects and to organised clubs, groups and teams where many will benefit.Previous grantees include Riding for the Disabled, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Girlguiding Renfrewshire and Salvation Army.