The National Lottery Community Fund

Day

Thursday 16 June

Time slot

15:30-16:30

This event took place almost 3 years ago

Room

Lomond suite
Wheelchair accessible

Contact

Karen Richmond
0141 242 1400

Topic

Funding & fundraising

Who was the event aimed at?

Frontline service delivery

Who spoke at this event?

Áine Lovedale

Event summary and materials

What was covered in your sessions?

Our Head of Comms, Landa Sullivan, introduced the session by explaining why we are currently reviewing our funding portfolio in Scotland. After the difficulties of the past few years we know the Third sector is in a very different place than before so we want to ensure our future funding programmes offer the best support for communities. We have a 2023 portfolio team, led by Aine Lovedale, who led discussion about key priorities for our funding, the pros and cons of short or longer term grants, what sustainability means in the current context and the type of relationship with Funders that people most value.

Was there any useful feedback or reflection from the participants?

There was split views on longer term funding as that means fewer grants can be awarded, so people were keen to have a mixture of short and longer term funding. Key issues identified were poverty/cost of living, mental health, core costs and children & young people. Conversations around sustainability highlighted the need for Funders to be flexible as long term planning is difficult given the cost of living pressures and there was a desire to support organisations to retain staff and volunteers longer term. Most people were very positive about relationship with Funders and value having a named contact and a conversational approach.

How people can find out more or get involved in your work?

We are continuing to engage with different people over the next couple of months and welcome any written responses or viewpoints. People can email scotland2023portfolio@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk to send us their thoughts.