Paul Hamlyn Foundation – Youth Fund
The Youth Fund supports organisations who work with young people (ages 14–25) to drive change so that future generations of young people can thrive.
Funding is up to £50,000 per year for three years (max grant £150,000) to cover core operating costs (salaries, organisation costs and delivery costs). Successful organisations will be able to demonstrate how their work:
- Addresses root causes of injustices faced by young people
- Influences practice, shapes policy & improves systems
- Influences attitudes or narratives
- Shapes external context
This fund operates on a rolling basis. There are no deadlines.
The Robertson Trust – Wee Grants
Wee Grants from The Robertson Trust are open to constituted community groups and registered charities in Scotland with an annual income of less than £30,000.
Funding is available up to £5,000 for one year only and is unrestricted, meaning it can be used to cover revenue or capital costs.
The Robertson Trust – Transport Grants
Transport Grants from The Robertson Trust are open to registered charities working in Scotland with an annual income of £30,000 – £2 million that support people who are experiencing (or are at high risk of experiencing) poverty and trauma.
Funding is available between £5,000 and £20,000 per year, for 1 – 3 years, to contribute towards the costs of transport to support your work.
There is no set closing date.
Tesco Stronger Starts
Tesco Stronger Starts supports thousands of local community projects and good causes across the UK. The scheme is open to all registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, with priority given to projects that provide food and support to young people.
Before applying, organisations are encouraged to read the Guidance notes. You can find these notes, as well as information on next steps below:
Esmée Fairburn Foundation
The Esmée Fairburn Foundation offers funding on a rolling basis and the majority of their grants are unrestricted or can be used to support an organisation’s core costs. The smallest grant you can apply for is £30,000.
You can learn if your organisation is eligible for this funding with the Foundation’s online quiz. If you are eligible, you are welcome to submit a short Expression of Interest (EOI) following the guidance provided on the funder’s website:
The 7stars Foundation
The 7stars Foundation supports children and young people who are surviving abuse or homelessness, are challenged by addiction, or are caring for others. The Shine Bright Funding Stream is open to applicants who:
- Are a registered charity in the UK
- Have a turnover of under £1.5m
For this stream, grants up to £1,500 can be used to purchase educational, wellbeing or recreational items for young people aged 16 or under (aligned to the 7stars Foundation priorities).
BBC Children in Need – Emergency Essentials Programme
BBC Children in Need believes every child and young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be. Delivered by the team at Family Fund Business Services, the Emergency Essentials programme 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 critical to a child’s wellbeing. Our dedicated suppliers work hard to get grant items out quickly to families. Everything is taken care of from delivery, installation/build (furniture) to recycling of old white good appliances.
The programme has a growing network of referrers across Scotland who regularly access these grants on behalf of the children, young people and families they support.
More information on the Emergency Essentials grants, including how to register as a referrer and how to apply for a grant on behalf of a family in need, can be found here: Learn more
Happy Days Children’s Charity
The Happy Days Children’s Charity works to provide respite breaks for individuals, families and groups who support children with a wide range of additional support needs. Funding is available for:
- Holidays and day trips for young people and their families
- Residential trips for groups of children and young people
- Days out for groups to venues across the UK (including the seaside, theatre, zoos and farm parks)
- Experiences like sport activity days, art and music workshops
There is no deadline for applications.
Aldi – Scottish Sport Fund
Aldi’s Scottish Sport Fund aims to help people of all ages and abilities to take part in physical activity within their local communities by offering sports clubs the chance to secure essential funding. Clubs can apply for up to £2,500 of funding (terms and conditions apply), with funding rounds rotating by geographic region:
- Central Scotland: applications now closed
- NE, Highlands & Islands: applications now closed
- Glasgow & The West: applications now closed
- Dundee & Tayside: applications now closed
- Fife, Perth & Kinross: applications now closed
- Edinburgh & The Lothians: applications now closed
- South Scotland: open 7 October – 3 November 2024
Sports clubs in South Scotland can apply now.
BBC Children in Need – Core Costs and Project Costs
BBC Children in Need is currently open to applications from not-for-profit organisations working with children and young people aged 18 and under. Funding is available in two streams: Core Costs and Project Costs.
The Core (Organisational) Costs stream supports essential organisational and administrative spending. These are the key expenses required to keep an organisation running.
The Project Costs stream supports the aims and delivery of a certain piece of work. This work will usually be time-limited and based on a defined set of activities.
Applicants can apply for grants up to three years from either stream. BBC Children in Need aims to give quicker decisions for grants of £15,000 or less per year. There is no application deadline for either stream. You can apply at any time.
Trusthouse Charitable Foundation — Small Grants
Trusthouse Charitable Foundation – Small Grants offers single year grants between £2,000 and £10,000 to help with core costs, salaries, running and project costs.
You can apply if:
- Your organisation’s postcode falls within the bottom 50% of most deprived areas (for rural areas) or within the bottom 15% most deprived areas (for urban areas)
- Your project has a focus on community support
- Your annual income does not exceed £250,000
- You are applying for a maximum of 50% of the total cost of your project/salary/core running costs
To see full eligibility and the Small Grants Funding Guidelines, visit the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation website
There are no deadlines for this funding and applicants will usually receive a decision within 8 weeks of applying.
Trusthouse Charitable Foundation — Major Grants
The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation – Major Grants offers two types of grants to help with core costs, salaries, running and project costs:
- Single year grants between £10,000 and £50,000
- Multi-year grants for a maximum of 3 years (not to exceed £100,000 in total over this period and with no more than £50,000 applied for in any given year)
To apply, organisations should have a focus on Family Support (including early intervention, families coping with addiction, and prisoners’ families). You must also:
- Be a voluntary sector organisation with a turnover up to £500,000
- Have a postcode or project area ranked within the most deprived 15% of the Index of Multiple Deprivation for urban areas or within the most deprived 50% for rural areas
Adventure Playgrounds, Baby Banks and Disability charities are not eligible for the Major Grants programme.
There are no deadlines for this funding. Major Grants will be decided at Grants Committee meetings which take place in January, April, July and October.
Mary Janet King Fund
The Mary Janet King Fund from Foundation Scotland supports community groups working with young people to take up music.
Grants up to £5,000 are available to grassroots organisations and groups across Scotland that meet Foundation Scotland’s common eligibility criteria.
Applications for this fund are rolling and can be submitted at any time. Decisions take approximately 10 weeks from receipt of an application.
The Morrisons Foundation
The Morrisons Foundation awards grant funding for charity projects that make a positive difference in local communities. Grants are available for up to £10,000 for direct project delivery. To be eligible, charities must have been registered with the Charity Commission or OSCR for a minimum of one year, and projects must support people in a local community in England, Scotland or Wales.
While applications from larger charities are welcome, the fund will prioritise applications from small charities with an income of less than £1 million.
Young Carer Grant
Young Carer Grant is a yearly payment of £383.75 for young carers in Scotland.
To be able to get a Young Carer Grant, you must be 16, 17 or 18 years old and must have been caring for 1, 2 or 3 people for an average of 16 hours a week for the last 3 months. If you care for more than one person, you can combine the hours of the people you care for to average 16 hours a week.
How you spend the Young Carer Grant is up to you. You could use it for things like new clothes, driving lessons or a holiday. You do not need to tell us what you spend the money on.
Young Start
The National Lottery Community Fund is offering funding from £10,001 to £100,000 through the Young Start Fund to help children and young people across Scotland become more confident so they can realise their potential.
The fund is open to projects that achieve at least one of the following three outcomes:
- children and young people have better physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
- children and young people have better connections with the wider community
- children and young people get access to new skills and training opportunities which will help them to get a new job or start a business
Application deadline: Ongoing
The Clothworkers’ Foundation – Open Grants Programme
The Clothworkers’ Foundation awards grants to UK-registered charities, CICs, and other registered UK not-for-profit organisations. Grants are awarded to successful applications that can demonstrate that the work of your organisation fits within one or more of these programme areas:
- Disadvantaged young people
- Alcohol and substance misuse
- Disabled people
- Disadvantaged minority communities
- Homelessness
- Domestic and sexual violence
- Elderly people
- Prisoners and ex-offenders
- Visual impairment
The size of the grant awarded will depend on a number of factors including the size of your organisation and the cost and scale of your capital project.
Learn more about applying for a grant here
Gambling Education & Prevention Small Action Fund
Youth Scotland network member FastForward and the Gambling Education Hub have opened the Small Action Fund. This grant scheme is an opportunity for groups of young people to apply for up to £500 to create, develop and complete their own local project promoting gambling education and prevention.
Shackleton Foundation
The Shackleton Foundation invests in inspirational leaders and early-stage social enterprises with the potential to make a real difference in the lives of disadvantaged young people. The foundation offers up to £10,000 of seed funding and support to enable aspiring leaders and social entrepreneurs to establish their own ventures to help young people in challenging circumstances.
To be eligible, your group must:
- Fulfil a clear need and demand
- Be in the first year of development
- Have a real social impact
- Have well-defined outputs and goals
- Have the potential for real growth and sustainability.
Click here for more info and to apply
Foyle Foundation – Small Grants Scheme
The Small Grants Scheme is designed to support charities registered and operating in the United Kingdom, especially those working at grassroots and local community level, in any field, across a wide range of activities. Please note we are not able to support individuals. Online applications can be accepted from charities that have an annual turnover of less than £150,000 per annum. Larger or national charities will normally not be considered under this scheme. There are no deadlines for submission. Online Applications can be received at all times, but it may take up to three months to obtain a decision from Trustees.
ILF Transition Fund
Young people aged 16-25 who are living with a disability can now apply for up to £4,000 to the ILF (Independent Living Fund Scotland) Transition Fund. From 1 April 2021, the limit for applications has been increased to £4,000, and recipients who have already received a grant can apply again to the Transition Fund at the end of their current 12-month grant period, provided they still fit the eligibility criteria. The fund can support young people to try new activities and experiences that will enhance their independence, confidence and help them spend more time with other people.
Wooden Spoon Charity
Wooden Spoon fund life-changing projects that support children and young people with disabilities or living in disadvantage. The focus is to help children and young people through projects such as sensory rooms, playground and outdoor activities, health and wellbeing and specialist equipment.
Weir Charitable Trust
The Weir Charitable Trust aims to support Scottish-based community groups and small charities to provide services across Scotland. To be eligible to apply for funding you must:
- Be a small charity or community group with an annual income of less than £125,000
- Be based and operate in Scotland, providing services to improve quality of life for people of Scotland
- Have an application that meets one of the five Qualifying Categories: Sport, Health, Culture, Animal Welfare or Recreational Facilities
- Be seeking funding of less than £25,000
You can find full criteria and guidance on the Weir Charitable Trust website. Applications are accepted at any time but will only be considered twice a year: at the end of February and the end of August.