Search

The Foundation supports civic voices to share their stories, learn and act together and influence the institutions that shape people’s lives. They support projects that seek to facilitate constructive engagement between civil society and decision makers, including civil society participation in policy development and decision-making. Applications must address one or more of their three priority themes:1. Health justice2. Climate justice3. Freedom of expression All applications are required to demonstrate how they intend to integrate considerations of gender into their project design and implementation.

The Victim Surcharge Fund (VSF) is available to organisations who provide direct support to victims of crime. It can be used to provide emergency household, food, utility, or clothing expenses for those escaping domestic abuse, or for installation of alarm systems to help victims feel safe, in line with published Guidance.The VSF is intended to supplement and enhance support services that Victim Support Organisations (VSOs) already provide to victims of crime and is primarily intended to help victims who are already accessing the services of VSOs.

This Scottish Government-funded programme was set up to support the development of co-produced, person-centred, self-management activity across Scotland. Learning from people’s lived experience of living with long-term conditions, and their unpaid carers, is at the heart of what the Fund is designed to achieve.The Self Management for Life cycle of the fund aims to support project that put people and communities at the centre. In the 2026 round, we hope to focus more clearly on two specific points of a person’s journey with a long-term condition as well as health inequalities. Applications must demonstrate their project supports, guides and enables self-management in one of the following ways:- Work that aligns with secondary prevention by working to embed self-management soon after a long-term condition or disability is identified, or early in someone’s unpaid caring role.- Work that seeks to address health inequalities while increasing the self-management capacity of people with long-term conditions, disabilities and/or unpaid caring responsibilities who experience these inequalities- Work that develops the self-management capacity of people living with long-term conditions, disabilities, and/or their unpaid carers, whilst awaiting health or social care support

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund (CMHWF) for Adults was established in October 2021 and to date, it has distributed grants to community initiatives supporting mental health and wellbeing across Scotland. Local TSIs have their own version of this fund.The priorities are:- 1. Tackle mental health inequalities through supporting a range of ‘at risk’ groups.- 2. Address priority issues of social isolation and loneliness, suicide prevention, poverty and inequality with a particular emphasis on responding to the cost-of-living crisis and support to those facing socio-economic disadvantage.  - 3. Support small ‘grass roots’ community groups and organisations to deliver such activities.  - 4. Provide opportunities for people to connect with each other, build trusted relationships and revitalise communities. 

The Climate Hub offers small grants to community groups for community engagement or seed funding for a community climate action project. The Fund is available to existing and emerging community groups who are members of the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub. They will prioritise projects which: - Aim to create long-term change.- Build the skills and capacity of groups or organisations and communities. - Support and encourage collaborative working across groups or organisations, communities and areas.- Encourage sustainability through reusing, recycling and upcycling goods and products. - Encourage climate action and a just transition- Mitigate climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce environmental impact- Help communities adapt to and build resilience to climate change- Protect or enhance local biodiversity through conservation and promotion

Funded by the Scottish Government and Foundation Scotland, this fifth round of grants from the Forth Valley Climate Action Hub will enable more groups to engage in climate action for the first time; and will support communities already delivering climate action to achieve even more. Alongside grant funding, members will continue to benefit from climate hub support, including a packed programme of talks, workshops and events. Members can also engage with FEL's climate leadership programme and growing peer network. The aim of this grant is to help communities test and develop practical responses to local impacts of climate change. This could include projects such as rainwater capture systems, natural flood management solutions, community resilience planning, local weather monitoring, and other small-scale adaptation activities. They are keen to hear your project ideas and how they contribute to climate adaptation. Example projects include:- Nature based solutions to flooding including planting to slow water flow - Community flood resilience including flood warden programmes - Climate-resilient food growing including with composting or water-efficient irrigation- Community preparedness plans or place plans focus on community climate resilience- Rainwater harvesting including permeable surfaces or community rain gardens- Tree planting for shade and cooling or combined with seating- Ecosystem resilience including wildflower meadows and native planting.Applications not previously funded by the Climate Action Hub will be prioritised.

The Digital and Technology Adoption Capital Grant can provide organisations based in the Highlands and Islands region funding to support digital transformation ambitions. Introducing digital technology into your business has many advantages, including cutting costs, speeding up processes, improving customer insights, creating the ability to make faster business decisions, reduce carbon emissions and increase revenue.HIE recommend that organisations applying for this fund should have a digital action plan or feasibility study in place before making an enquiry.Community and Voluntary Organisations in the Highlands and Islands can apply for a capital grant based on their requirements.Digital technologies that may be supported with a capital grant include:- Robots / robotics / cobotics- Sensor technologies- Internet of Things- Data innovation- Artificial intelligence- Cyber security- Software development- Augmented reality / virtual reality / 3D visualisations- Additive manufacturing and laser machining- Cyber security solutionsProjects that have an element of ‘deep tech’ will also be considered, for example, blockchain, photonics, aerospace and space technologies, electronics, cyber threat intelligence and quantum computing.

This new cultural funding programme is an important action of the recently launched Visitor Levy Scheme which aims to sustain Edinburgh's status as one of the world's greatest cultural and heritage cities.The fund’s main purpose is to provide revenue grant funding to local cultural organisations to improve resilience, support programming innovation and enhance cultural output through short-to-medium term projects that deliver innovative approaches to supporting the city’s cultural infrastructure.Project proposals should also align with the named purpose of the Visitor Levy Scheme and thus deliver activities which:- Support programming innovation by adopting new art forms, digital tools, and community-centred business models by introducing/furthering interdisciplinary collaboration, immersive digital engagement, and co-created public programming respectively- Enhance cultural output by diversifying programming, adopting digital tools, and fostering inclusive leadership ensuring greater equality of access to culture for lower socio-economic groups through large-scale public celebrations/installations outwith the city centre.- Improve resilience by adapting business models, introducing new governance models , diversifying income, and fostering workforce well-being. Key strategies include financial diversification, operational flexibility, and strong community engagementEligible costs:- Additional staffing costs to deliver the proposed activity.- All project costs directly related to the delivery of the proposed activity.- Professional fees directly related to delivery.- Project management and monitoring costs (capped).

The Scottish Government is awarding this grant to establish a single nationalpartnership of voluntary sector organisations to provide throughcare support to people, across Scotland, leaving prison after a short prison sentence or a period on remand.The support the partnership provides should be available to anyone leaving prison, whether after a short term prison sentence or a period being held on remand, and should be available across all of Scotland.The support provided by the partnership must be person-centred and needs led – this includes flexibility to provide different kinds of support at different times as needs arise and change in the weeks and months following release.Full guidance is available via the Community Justice Scotland website.

The Culture & Business Scotland Fund is designed to encourage collaboration between business and culture by enabling not-for-profit organisations to give their for-profit business sponsors additional rights or benefits, helping to enhance the impact and reach of the sponsorship and cultural activity.Not-for-profit organisations delivering cultural activity for the benefit of public audiences in Scotland can apply to the Fund for up to £1 for every £1 of business sponsorship. Organisations can apply up to two times in the financial year, provided the total Fund investment does not exceed £10,000.They welcome applications which relate to one or more of the following cultural forms:- Animation - Archaeology - Archives & Collections - Art & Health - Combined Arts - Community Heritage - Craft - Dance - Design - Fashion - Festival - Film & TV - Galleries - Historic Buildings & Monuments - Industrial, Maritime, Transport - Intangible Cultural Heritage - Land & Biodiversity - Libraries - Literature - Museums - Music - Street Arts - Theatre - Visual ArtsFunding must support cultural activities that directly engage a public audience, such as performances, exhibitions, productions, seasons of work, or public presentations.Fund investment cannot be used for capital projects (for example, building or renovation work). However, a business sponsor may contribute to those costs if the matched Fund investment is used for audience-facing cultural activity.