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The Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) is designed to support access to finance for UK small businesses (third-sector) as they look to invest and grow. The Scheme provides a 70% government backed guarantee on loans, and aims to improve access to finance to boost overall investment and economic growth. The Scheme supports term loans, overdrafts, asset based lending and invoice finance facilities. Term loans and asset finance facilities are available from three months up to six years, with overdrafts and invoice finance available from three months up to three years.To find out more, visit the SIS website or contact them to speak with a member of the team.

The Community Buildings Fund, part of the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), 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.Grants up to £80,000 for 80% of eligible costs are available to eligible community groups to help you reduce energy costs and make your building more sustainable. The funding can be used towards the cost of installing renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. It can also be used for costs like building warrants, planning permission and grid connection applications which are essential to install some measures. What improvements will CARES fund?**1. Heating requirement**CARES funding is prioritised to buildings that have or will decarbonise their heating. Your building must have:- A heat pump (air source, ground source or water source).- A connection to a heat network.- Direct electric heating (including storage heating or electric boilers) biomass heating.Or as part of your CARES project you will be installing:- A heat pump; or- A connection to a heat network.**2. Core measures eligible for CARES funding.**You must install at least one core CARES measures:- A heat pump (air source, ground source or water source).- A connection to heat network.- Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.- Solar water heating.**3. Add-on measures**In addition to installing a core measure(s), you can also apply for funding to install one or more of the following:- Energy storage – heat/thermal or electrical.Insulation – any loft, underfloor or cavity wall insulation.- Secondary glazing.- Draught proofing.- Appropriate energy saving controls that are linked to new installations to ensure they operate efficiently.Eligible community buildings include, but are not limited to:- Village halls.- Community centres.- Community hubs.- Sports facilities.- Faith buildings.The building must be used by the local community or charitable organisation.

If you are interested in starting a tenant and resident’s association in your local area you can apply for a grant to help meet running costs of the group.The grant can cover the cost of:- Publicising and holding meetings- Responding to requests for help, from tenants and the Council- Producing information for those they represent- Keeping up to date with developments in housing- Organising events and initiatives that benefit their community

‘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.

Rosa’s Rise Fund provides organisational development funding for Black and racially minoritised-led women’s and girls’ organisations across the UK. The funding is for organisational development work relating to areas such as strategy, governance, leadership, alliances and partnerships, funding, demonstrating impact and systems and processes. Rise Fund aims to achieve the following outcomes: - Women and girls will be supported by women’s and girls’ organisations led by and for Black and racially minoritised women, ensuring women and girls can be safe, healthy and equal. - Women’s and girls’ organisations will be empowered and strengthened, meaning that they will be in a stronger position to survive, thrive and grow into the future. Organisations will be able to report one or more of these changes: - A clearer strategy - More effective governance - More effective leadership - Stronger alliances with other women’s organisations - More financial sustainability - More able to attract funding from other sources - More able to demonstrate the impact of your work - More effective systems and processes

The Local Employability Partnership (LEP), Employability Funding Midlothian is a Scottish Government fund delivered in partnership with Midlothian Council. It supports employability programmes that help Midlothian people overcome employment barriers.

CivTech is a Scottish Government programme that brings people from the public, private and third sectors together to build things that make the world a better place.The Round 11 Challenges are focused across a wide range of areas including education, the natural environments (land and marine), the economy and health, core government functions, the Gaelic language, and more. Individuals, teams, pre-starts, start-ups, early stage or established SMEs, and large companies are all welcome to apply. For more details on the process and to view all of the current challenges, visit the CivTech website.

Funding is intended to help to bring woodlands into management; promote the economic and sustainable production of timber and timber products; add value and jobs to local economies; and provide support to facilitate and enable diversification.It supports investments in three main areas:1. new specialised equipment which will increase the local small-scale harvesting and processing capacity2. new specialised equipment for forest tree nurseries, including tree seed supply businesses and equipment for afforestation ground preparation projects, including forestry fencing projects3. support for the mobile equipment to help forestry businesses or enterprises to adapt and recover from Covid-19

The Shetland CLLD Programme is a grant fund provided by the Scottish Government. The delivery of Shetland CLLD is overseen by the Shetland Islands Local Action Group (LAG) – a group of representatives from organisations with economic, social, environmental and community interests in Shetland. The CLLD grant fund is administered by Shetland Islands Council on behalf of the LAG. The principal focus for activity is to support sustainable projects which can be reflected within the programme’s four priority areas:- Helping families and services through the cost-of-living crises, including helping to address the drivers of child poverty- Increasing community capacity to address rural challenges- Transforming the economy to deliver net zero- Creating sustainable local servicesProjects that support one or more of the programme priorities will be considered for funding.