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Funding Opportunities
Search our list of open funds available to groups and organisations in Orkney. We add new ones when we come across them all the time.
VAO Managed Funds
Constituted groups with charitable aims (excluding party political groups) can apply for funding towards a project or activity that benefits their local community.
Examples of what we have funded before include:
- Equipment, such as goal posts, tables for community halls, display boards or replacement outdoor lighting.
- Specialist clothing or safety gear to support volunteers, such as waterproofs, gloves or hi-vis vests
- Venue hire for workshops, exhibitions or community events
Other Funders
Grants of £60,000 over two years are available for registered charities delivering innovative, long-term solutions that support vulnerable young people, aged 18 years old and under.
The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust works with UK registered charities that support their local community. With four grant rounds a year, they aim to give grants to those in society who face the greatest challenges and whose opportunities are most limited.
Round 1 is focused on people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The Health Lottery Foundation retains 20% of all money raised by people playing The Health Lottery games. It exists to benefit the community and make an impact in people’s lives.
Through their Community Choice Grants, The Health Lottery Foundation will randomly select ten small charities and CICs to award a grant of £1,000.
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.
The Foundation provides grants to help organisations and clubs involved in 'on water' elements of the sport of rowing. Most of their grants are awarded to UK rowing clubs but they also support any club or organisation involved in “on water rowing-type” activities.
The Sasha Foundation (TSF) was set up to support charities that work with mental health issues in memory of Sasha Love. In the UK this involves supporting young people with a bias towards young people, who are suffering from depression and mental health issues or who are confronting drug abuse issues. Additionally, it involves supporting education and healthcare projects and programs in low and middle income countries, with a bias towards education for young women.
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.
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.
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.
The grant is available to any child, up to the age of 18 years, resident in Orkney and who is disadvantaged due to any disability, behavioral or psychological problem, experiencing poverty, deprivation, illness, distress, abuse or neglect.
The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded, charitable grant-making foundation, which supports a wide range of causes across the UK.
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.
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.
The Robertson Trust offers funding to charitable organisations that support people and communities in Scotland who are living with poverty or trauma.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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 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.
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).
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 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 Roberton Trust offers offers funding to charitable organisations that support people and communities in Scotland who are living with poverty or trauma.

























