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The Culture Collective Fund is a Scottish Government initiative which supports a network of creative practitioners, organisations and communities, working together to create a positive difference locally and nationally.The Fund will support activity developed collaboratively between artists, organisations, and communities. It aims to make a positive impact locally and nationally by funding community-engaged creative work, providing paid opportunities for creative practitioners, and actively engaging people in shaping the future cultural life of their community.The programme began as a COVID-19 response and now continues to address wider challenges such as the cost-of-living crisis, climate change, and social inequality. It encourages sustainable, creative community development, evolving in response to emerging community ideas and needs, and supports learning across a national network.The Culture Collective Fund supports the following goals:- Empower communities to shape their cultural life through creative collaboration. - Create paid roles for creative practitioners to work with communities. - Support skills development and build community capacity. - Establish a national network to share learning and explore models of community-engaged creative practice. - Evaluate impact to inform future cultural policy and funding.

The Employability Fund is being distributed by VASLan on behalf of UK Government and is funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The overall aim of the fund is to strengthen capacity of community-based employability support for individuals.For full guidance, visit the VASLan website.Your project should fit with one or more essential priorities:- People taking part in work experience programs. An example could be organisations supporting people in job-searching activities i.e. identifying volunteering options, any other work experience programs.- People engaged in job-searching following support, for example organizations supporting people in job-searching activities i.e. job clubs, identifying skills, writing CVs, identifying volunteering ortraining options.- People in employment, including self-employment, following support, i.e. when organisation is offering advice- how to find job and matching with current skills, advice or working in partnership on self-employment.- People in education/training in order to gain skills needed to employment in the future i.e. volunteers identifying education destination as a result of support during volunteering experience,staff in particular roles looking to enhance their skills in order to support individuals better.- People experiencing reduced structural barriers into employment and into skills provision, i.e. when organisation is helping with project like mentorship for people with low self- confidence and mental health barrier which previously stopped them from employment, supported employment options etc.

The Gambling Harm and Mental Health Fund exists to support community-based activity to further work on mental health and gambling harms, including a focus on suicide. The main purpose of this fund is to understand the impact of Gambling Harms on specific disadvantaged, marginalised, and minoritised communities and how this intersects with wider social, economic, and environmental factors.The fund will be administered by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) on behalf of the Scottish Government. The Scotland Reducing Gambling Harm (ScotRGH) team will lead this work and be the main point of contact for potential and successful projects.

The aim of the Scottish Strategic Timber Transport Scheme is to facilitate the sustainable transport of timber in rural areas of Scotland for the benefit of local communities and the environment, maximising the value of monies available through innovative Regionally and Nationally Strategic projects and partnerships. Projects should have community and social and environmental benefits and reduce damage and disruption to public roads.

The Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund is designed to back programmes and organisations that help new businesses start, grow and scale, and plays a central role in strengthening the entrepreneurial infrastructure across the country. It provides grants to organisations that are driving entrepreneurial growth and innovation across Scotland.Funding is available to support projects that:- Expand access to entrepreneurship for underrepresented groups.- Deliver skills development, mentorship, and collaboration.- Boost Scotland's visibility as a global hub for startups.- Increase access to funding and investment opportunities.- Encourage innovation.The Fund is opportunity-focused, seeking initiatives that do not duplicate existing activity but fill gaps in the current ecosystem offering in Scotland. It is committed to supporting initiatives that enhance diversity, inclusion and accessibility within Scotland's entrepreneurial community. All proposed activity must be delivered, and all project costs incurred by 31st March 2026.

The Social Enterprise Just Transition Fund aims to finance organisations, businesses, communities and individuals to transition to net zero, creating jobs in low carbon industries and contributing to the region’s future prosperity.Applicants must deliver at least one of the following outcomes:- Decarbonisation and efficiencies: contribute to resource efficient and sustainable economic approaches that actively encourage decarbonisation, support low-carbon investment and infrastructure, and avoid carbon 'lock-in'- Citizens, communities and place: support affected regions by empowering and invigorating communities and strengthening local economies;- Jobs, skills and education: equip people with the skills, education and retraining required to support retention and creation of access to green, fair and high-value work- Fair distribution of costs and benefits: address existing economic and social inequality by sharing the benefits of climate action widely, while ensuring that the costs are distributed on the basis of ability to pay- Business and economy: support a strong, dynamic and productive economy which creates wealth and high quality employment across Scotland, upholds the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and continues to make Scotland a great place to do business- Adaptation and resilience: identify key risks from climate change and set out actions to build resilience to these risks, ensuring our economy is flexible, adaptable and responsive to the changing climate- Further equality and human rights: address fuel poverty and child poverty in a manner consistent with Scotland's statutory targets on each, while furthering wider equality and human rights across all protected characteristics- Environmental protection and restoration: commit to act within our planetary boundaries while protecting and restoring our natural environment.

The Fund aims to strengthen an informed, engaged and active global citizenship community in Scotland. It supports organisations and communities to work in partnership with counterparts in the Global South to address shared global challenges and contribute to the achievement of the [United Nations Sustainable Development Goals](https://sdgs.un.org/goals).Global Solidarity Fund has a particular focus on strengthening the capacity and impact of smaller organisations and community groups. It is designed to support capacity development by empowering small Scottish‑based civil society organisations (CSOs), social enterprises and local groups that operate on a not‑for‑profit basis. By providing targeted, accessible funding, GSF enables these organisations to develop, build meaningful international partnerships, and engage people across Scotland in global issues.The fund aims to achieve this through three grant types:- Scottish Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Strengthening Grant- Global Citizenship Engagement Grant- Shifting the Power Grant

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government's approach to transforming employment support in Scotland.If you have a local project or initiative that could provide early-stage employability support which could lead to onward progression to more formal traning, East Lothian Works encourages you to apply for a quick grant.Funding is for activities targeted towards post-school young people and adults without a positive destination ages 16+ (aimed at employability pipeline stage 1-2).All funds must be used by 31 March 2027.

‘Ask and Act’ are new duties proposed in the Housing (Scotland) Bill that requires public bodies to ask about a person’s housing situation early—and take action to prevent homelessness before it happens. The Scottish Government’s Homelessness Prevention Pilot Fund (up to £4 million) supports a range of bodies including, local authorities, Health Boards, the police service, registered social landlords, prisons, along with 3rd Sector Organisations experienced in preventing homelessness. The pilots will develop, test, scale and cost the new prevention duties in real-world settings. The fund is being administered by Advice Direct Scotland. It is designed to help public bodies, alongside third sector organisations experienced in preventing homelessness, prepare for and test the practical application of the new prevention duties with a particular focus on how ‘Ask and Act’ can be effectively embedded in day-to-day practice. It will also help relevant bodies and others to scope out the groups most at risk of homelessness, identify resource requirements, and best practice approaches.Examples of the types of approaches the fund will support are:- Early intervention and targeted prevention activity.- Multi-agency approaches to support people navigating housing, healthand social care services.- Partnership models and processes that can be replicated and scaled.- Collaborations involving shared resources, data and transitional orreferred services.- Initiatives that centre people at risk of homelessness and/or people with direct experience of homelessness in the design and delivery of theservice.- Initiatives that target groups at risk of homelessness and critical points- in service pathways that have been identified as leading tohomelessness.

This fund supports community engagement activities that help shape Scotland's policies and strategies on:- infection prevention and control (IPC)- antimicrobial resistance (AMR).Successful organisations will recruit and host a community voice and engagement co-ordinator. The co-ordinator will work with communities to gather and share insights that support national health strategies, campaigns and action plans.A particular focus will be on engaging people and groups whose views are not often represented in policy development.You can use funding for: - staff costs- project delivery costs- reasonable participant incentives- equipment costs that support project deliveryProjects should start in August 2026, with all funding spent by March 2027.