Sense Scotland

Funding Workshop

So Where Do We Find the Money?

Databases such as:

• IDOX’s Grantfinder (http://www.idoxgrantfinder.co.uk)

• IDOX – Open4Funding (http://www.open4funding.info) not free to use but may be accessible via your local authority a number of which e.g. Stirling Council have this package.

• Directory of Social Change’ Trustfunding.com (http://www.dsc.org.uk/FundingWebsites) Individual websites for organisations, individuals and company giving. Lowest cost seems to be £295 plus vat annually.

• GCVS First Funding Stop (http://www.gcvs.org.uk/learning_and_development/learning_resources) This is free to use.

• Other sites to search free of charge are OSCR and the Charity Commission. Neither are set up to facilitate funding searches, however they are worth a look.

• Email alerts:

Grantfinder provides email alerts to organisations that use their package

Members of SCVO can also register for two weekly funding updates

So Where Do We Find the Money?

Publications:

• Directory of Social Change has a range of publications covering grant making

trusts, trusts for individuals, new trusts and major trusts. Their Directory of

Grant Making Trusts 2014/15 costs £125

• SCVO: 2014 Scottish Directory of Funding for Third Sector Organisations (£25

download)

• Websites: Many funders now have their own websites and it is really

important to get your information form this source directly as it will be up to

date.

Categories of Grant Funders

Trusts:

A grant making trust is set up with charitable objectives and managed by volunteer Trustees responsible to allocate grants/donations within their particular trust’s framework. A Grant Making Trust may have named beneficiaries e.g. be set up to support named charities but generally do not. There are a huge variety of trusts from very small to the large trusts such as the Robertson Trust or Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Applying to a trust can be as simple as sending a letter or may require an application form to be completed.

Lotteries.

Four funders using lotteries to bring funds to the voluntary/charitable sector.:

• The National Lottery which accesses funding via a number of streams and programmes including: BIG, Awards for All, Investing in Ideas is the largest

• Heritage Lottery Fund which supports all forms of heritage including buildings, landscapes, parks and oral history.

• The People’s Postcode Trust in Scotland now allocates grants up to £20,000 and is open 4 times each year. Yes it is possible to submit an application in each quarter.

• The Health Lottery which manages 51 society lotteries each representing a different geographical are in the UK.

Categories of Grant Funders

National Bodies some of which are:

• Creative Scotland

• Sportscotland

• Paths for All

• Scottish Natural Heritage

• The Forestry Commission Scotland

• Land Trust

Two Current Open Opportunities

People’s Postcode Trust.

• The People’s Postcode Trust opens for applications 4 times each year with dates published in advance on their website. Quarter 3 is currently open with a deadline of 5.30pm on 7th November.

• This is an example of why it is so important to make sure you access the most up to date information directly from the funder’s website and not overly rely on other information sources. PPT regularly make changes to their criteria and level of grants. The most recent change is to the themes for applications in Quarter 3 when only applications that meet the funding theme Advancement of citizenship or community development will be accepted. This doesn’t mean that projects focusing on health, poverty, sport or environmental improvement will be rejected but it does mean that all applications need to make a strong case that they meet the community development theme.

• Applications are made online with guidance and application forms accessed via

the website.

Two Current Open Opportunities

The Robertson Trust

The Trust’s seven priority areas are Care, Health, Education & Training, Community Arts, Community Sport, Alcohol

Misuse and Criminal Justice.

Further categories for support include: the preservation of the environment, the strengthening of local communities,

heritage, culture and science, animal welfare and the saving of lives.

Four types of donation have been established:

Small

Main

Enterprise

Major capital

• Small and main donations form the bulk of the donations made by the Trust and are assessed on a rolling

programme with recommendations made to the Trustees six times a year in January, March, May, July,

September, November. Revenue grants are from £500 up to a maximum of £15,000 per year.

• Applications for major capital grants are assessed three times per year in January, May and September.

• Requests for Major capital donations, likely to be for capital developments in one of the Trust’s priority areas

where the total project costs are in excess of £1M and will be for a maximum of 10% of total project costs.

• Application forms and guidelines can be found on the Robertson Trust website