Funding Opportunities

The British Heart Foundation is giving out a limited number of free defibrillators to community groups in the UK. 

The Culture Fund is available to support organisations planning events/projects taking place in Orkney between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027. A total of £23K is available for arts, heritage or Orkney dialect projects.  This funding is aimed at enabling Orkney residents to access the highest quality cultural events and activities as well as publicising Orkney to visitors. 

In Scotland, over 25,000 people with complex needs and disabilities rely on Changing Places Toilets to have their personal care needs met. However, many communities still lack access to these essential facilities.

The Scottish Government has launched a £10 million fund to support the creation of up to 150 new Changing Places Toilets across Scotland, with a focus on areas where there are currently no, or very few, Changing Places Toilets.

Music for All supports every type of music maker from community groups and schools, to experienced musicians and aspirational individuals. They support anyone with limited access to music or restricted financial capability.

The Creative Communities Scotland fund will support grassroots community-led organisations across Scotland to develop and deliver projects that harness the power of creativity in supporting people and communities.

Crowdfunding campaigns have the potential to be hugely impactful in raising funds and awareness of your project and/or organisation. They are most successful when match-funding boosts the value of donations encouraging people to donate. Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation (HIEF) are offering grants of up to £10,000 to be used as matched-funding on the Crowdfunder platform.

HIEF ran a pilot matched-fund crowdfunding campaign with Bute Forest in September 2024. A total of £30,000 was raised for the retention of their Forest Ranger with £10,000 coming from HIEF, £10,000 from the Aviva Community Fund and Employee Giving, and £10,000 from individuals and businesses both locally and further afield.

The Scottish Connections Fund offers funding to set up new projects to promote Scotland’s reputation and interests.

The Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) is here to support communities to engage with, participate in, and benefit from the energy transition to net zero.

The 'Encouraging and Supporting Grassroots Activity (ESGA) Fund' was designed for smaller, grassroots organisations looking to provide community-led support for people affected by dementia.

The Rewilding Innovation Fund aims to help remove barriers to rewilding projects within Britain, whether they are at the early planning stages or want to move a project one step wilder.

Woodland Trust want to make sure everybody in the UK has the chance to plant a tree. They provide tree packs to schools, community and youth groups to encourage local wildlife, protect our landscape against tree disease and create wooded areas.

The fund supports small to medium-sized third sector organisations across Scotland to recruit additional volunteers for the delivery of a new, or the expansion of an existing, volunteering project.

The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded, charitable grant-making foundation, which supports a wide range of causes across the UK.

Start It is a funding programme that helps budding social entrepreneurs in Scotland to get their businesses up and running. Funding comes from the Scottish Government’s Social Entrepreneurs Fund.

Grants of up to £500 are available to individuals in Scotland aged 16-26 looking to make a positive change to the issues that matter to them.

The grant is available to any child, up to the age of 18 years, resident in Orkney and who is disadvantaged due to any kind of disability, additional support needs, living with financial hardship, illness, distress, abuse or neglect. 

The grant must be used only to directly benefit an individual child. Examples include; contributions towards the cost of clothing, bedding,  technology equipment, school trips, resources for children with specific needs. 

This funding is for organisations in Scotland, that The National Lottery Community Fund currently fund. They want to support organisations to try out new ideas and ways of working, or to develop their organisation and improve their current work.

Funding from £300 to £50,000 is available, for up to 2 years.

Step Up offers 0% interest loans of £5,000 to £30,000 to help Scottish social enterprises scale or repeat successful trading activities.

• Social enterprises of any age can apply for microloans of up to £10,000
• New enterprises and those starting to trade can apply for loans up to £30,000

The Community Enterprise Fund is a funding programme that helps community organisations to start trading or set up social enterprises in Scotland. It offers grants of up to £5,000, to be spent over 6 months. Funding comes from the Scottish Government’s Social Entrepreneurs Fund (SEF).

The Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) is a grant-funding and support programme that seeks innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges of our times. The winner will receive a £50,000 grant and tailored support for the duration of their award to help them kick-start their solution. The other finalists will receive £25,000 each, in addition to signposting or introductions to alternative sources of funding or capacity-building programmes. 

The PF Charitable Trust's funding policy is to support work at community level and the foundation provides a valuable service in targeting appropriate groups. 

The Esmee Fairburn Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-makers in the UK. They also offer social investment.

As well as making direct investments into organisations seeking to create impact towards their aims, the foundation also invests into impact funds, which are managed by other social investors. They offer loans (secured and unsecured), equity, fund investments and everything else.

Expressions of Interest can be submitted at any time.

Aberlour’s Urgent Assistance Fund can provide immediate relief to families with children (aged 21 and under) who are suffering extreme hardship. This support is usually via cash grants to assist with a range of needs, such as food, utilities, clothing, bedding, appliance repairs, replacement of appliances that have failed, or other essentials (excluding carpets, floor coverings or electronic devices).

The Roberton Trust offers offers funding to charitable organisations that support people and communities in Scotland who are living with poverty or trauma.

The Robertson Trust offers funding to charitable organisations that support people and communities in Scotland who are living with poverty or trauma.

The Robertson Trust offers funding to charitable organisations that support people and communities in Scotland who are living with poverty or trauma.

The fund supports ambitious, audience-facing independent UK and international film and broader screen activity of national scale.

Charles Hayward Foundation fund preventative and early intervention programmes being delivered at the community level which allow older people to stay in their own homes and remain independent. They are interested in programmes which can demonstrate their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of older people. We favour projects that offer a consistent and sustained benefit rather than one-off events or short-lived activities.

The broad aim of the Heart of the Community Grant Trust is to provide financial grants for community projects that deliver lasting change within the regions in which the Company operates (Shetland, Orkney, Highland and Argyll).

The Clothworkers’ Foundation award grants for capital projects to UK registered charities, CICs, and other registered UK not-for-profit organisations (including special schools). They fund both large and small projects. The size of grant awarded depends on a number of factors including the size of the organisation and the cost and scale of the capital project.

Buttle UK offer individually tailored grants of up to £2,400 for children and young people who have experienced a crisis that has recently had a significant and enduring impact on their wellbeing and educational engagement. They fund items and activities to help improve children and young people’s wellbeing and increase their capacity to engage in education and learning.

The programme supports children and young people who are facing exceptionally difficult circumstances and is delivered by Family Fund Business Services. It provides items that meet a child’s most basic needs such as a bed to sleep in, a cooker to provide a hot meal and other items or services critical to a child’s wellbeing.

Stronger Starts supports thousands of local community projects and good causes across the UK. The scheme is open to all schools, registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, with priority given to projects that provide food and support to children, young people and families. It provides grants of up to £1500 to local projects from across the whole of Scotland.

The Robertson Trust offers funding to charitable organisations that support people and communities in Scotland who are living with poverty or trauma.

Social connections and community activities are at the heart of creating healthier, happier lives and a flourishing society. That’s why we support amazing community-led projects.

Through Young Start The National Lottery Community Fund are offering funding from £20,001 to £100,000 to help children and young people across Scotland become more confident, so they can realise their own potential.

The Scottish Land Fund supports rural and urban communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and land assets.

This funding is for projects that will help people connect more with each other. For the Community Action funding programme, The National Lottery Community Fund define communities as people who share an identity, interest or experience. They also include people living in the same place. They will support projects that are open, inclusive and led by their community.

This funding is for projects that support children, young people and families or that help people to be healthier and have better access to support.

The fund, which is administered by Victim Support Scotland, is open to any victim of crime who is resident in Scotland who is currently accessing victim and other support services. It is also available for people who live outside of Scotland who have been bereaved by a crime that has occurred within Scotland. Support organisations can apply for funding on behalf of victims.

Parents, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists of a child or young person under the age of 18 living with a disability or long-term health condition, can now apply for funding to purchase a new wheelchair.

Greener Spaces, Fairer Places’ - grants up to £500 are available for local faith groups or related organisations working primarily in a small, specific geographic communities to tackle poverty and climate change.

The Craighnish Trust focuses on environmental and human rights issues as well as the particular special interests of the trustees. Previous awards have included grants to organisations working in conservation, refugees, youth, and music. The fund has a Scottish bias but is not exclusive to Scotland.