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SafeDeposits Scotland, the country’s leading tenancy deposit protection scheme, has introduced a Community Fund designed to provide small grants to projects enhancing communities across Scotland.The SafeDeposits Scotland Community Fund will award grants 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 communityThey can support a wide range of projects from enhancing play areas to planting trees, and from providing isolated individuals with social opportunities and helping young people prepare for work.

The fund supports community groups in Argyll and Bute. Projects should demonstrate the following key priorities: fairer communities, resilient communities, cleaner, greener communities and creative communities. Applications for funding of events and festivals are expected to bring economic benefit to the relevant area and have a developmental aspect.Applications to the fund must evidence direct benefit to vulnerable individuals and groups in the local community and partnership working where relevant.

The Schroder Charity Trust is an independent grant-making Family Trust that has been supporting the charitable and voluntary sector for over 70 years. Currently they are only considering applications for work under the following two objectives:1. Enabling children and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to thrive and achieve their potential in education and employment.2. Strengthening communities through services and opportunities which enhance the wellbeing and life outcomes of vulnerable and disadvantaged people.

The primary goal of the Parks4Life Community Fund is to support community groups to deliver on their aim of bringing parks to life and make the best of parks across Scotland for everyone to enjoy now and the future.Grants are available to community and Friends groups who work to improve, promote and develop a park or greenspace across Scotland. Funding could be used to help your group put on or expand an event to attract visitors to the park, skills training for your volunteers or something more practical such as a small planting scheme.They will prioritise:- Applications intending to “activate your park” through events such as a gala day or focussed park clean that will bring people to your park or greenspace.- Promote the work or community and friends group and the role of the park or greenspace.- Purchase of tools and materials that will help your group- Applications from groups across Scotland and in particular groups where their park or greenspace is in an area that scores highly on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), particularly those in the 20% of most deprived areas.

The Youth Local Action Group (YLAG) Fund is designed by young people for young people, supporting projects that work with and support people under the age of 30 in the Outer Hebrides.In order to be eligible, projects must demonstrate that they:- significantly benefit young people in their area; - are achievable within the given timescale; - have a legacy/ long-term impact; - provide good value for money; and - align with at least one of the following YLAG priorities: empowering young people; dùthchas & dualchas; entrepreneurship; mental health; personal & professional development.Applications which demonstrate a particular benefit to young people who are care-experienced, disabled, affected by poverty or part of a marginalised group will be regarded preferentially, as will projects supporting Gaelic language and culture.

The CARES Community Buildings Fund provides grants to help community organisations reduce their building’s energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It does this by funding the installation of renewable technologies like heat pumps, battery storage, and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, as well as some energy efficiency measures.CARES funding can be used to develop your project and install renewable measures in your community building. Examples include:Development costs like building warrants, planning permission and grid connection applicationsInstallation costs: the costs to install the ‘core’ renewable energy measures and the ‘add on’ energy efficiency and energy storage measures. The fund is primarily for renewable measures so the ‘development costs’ and ‘add on’ measures must be a minority part of the total requested costs. The funding will decarbonise existing self-managed community buildings., i.e. you must install at least one of the following:- a heat pump (air source, ground source or water source)- a connection to heat network- solar photovoltaic (PV) panels- solar water heating.In addition to installing a core measure(s), you can also apply for funding to install one or more of the following:- energy storage- insulation- secondary glazing- draught proofing- appropriate energy saving controls that are linked to new installations to ensure they operate efficiently.Add-on measures must be a minority element of the overall funding requested.Approved projects must be completed and all funding claimed by the end of February 2026.

ASDA Foundation knows that accessible community spaces can be a lifeline for local people, and many of these spaces require funding to repair, renovate and develop them so that they can continue delivering vital activities and services.To be eligible to apply for this fund, your community space must be an accessible place where members of the community can interact, seek support and access a variety of services and activities.Funds projects which meet at least one of the following objectives:- Carry out essential repairs to enable the space to continue to function.- Renovate an existing space to accommodate more users/activities.- Create a new community space where groups can meet and undertake activities.- Improve accessibility to, or within, a community building.The following list provides examples of the items and services that they would fund:- Kitchen and bathroom refurbishments- Roof and floors repairs- Disabled access ramps to a community building- Boilers and heating- Transformation of a disused space into a functional space- Creation of a new permanent space- Building extensions- Upgrades and replacements to windows and doors- Essential building security upgrades- Removable items (e.g. soft furnishings, tables and chairs, white goods and electrical items, garden machinery) provided they only make up a small portion of a wider application to repair, renovate, or develop a community space.They expect to fund around 70 projects. Please plan for your project to start no earlier than September 2025, as they cannot offer retrospective payments. Funding must be used, and your project completed, by December 2026.