What's Your Big Idea?!

This small grants programme helps young people get an exciting idea off the ground through support from the Audrey Milan Fund.

On a white thought bubble icon, blue text reads, 'What's your Big Idea?!' The background is a lime green.

What you would do with £50?

Tell us something fun, creative, meaningful, exciting, inspiring, powerful and we could give it to you! Would you:

  • Start a new project with your youth group?
  • Use it for that cool idea you’ve been thinking about to make more money?
  • Develop a new skill, like making jewellery, starting a podcast or learning to cook?
  • Do something completely different that will blow our minds?!

An Even Bigger Question…

What if we top up your £50 with another £150? Tell us how it went with your £50, what you’d like to do next, and we might just give you that too! If you think £50 is enough to get a cool idea off the ground, but you might want more to make it really take off – ask us!

Who can apply?

Young people living in Scotland, aged 12-25 are eligible to apply through a Youth Scotland member group. Payments will be made to young people via their youth groups, so as not to exclude anyone from applying for a small grant. Young people are welcome to apply with individual or group ideas.

A pop-art style comic drawing with a blonde woman holding her hands over her ears. Above her head is a thought-bubble containing a lightbulb.

Can I get support?

Definitely! There is a help sheet to applying at the bottom of the page. It also has some other advice on ways your youth worker or we can support you. We can help you with payment plans, money advice, advice on your idea from experienced mentors in the youth work sector or anything else you’d like to ask.

What is the deadline?

The fund has a rolling deadline, with the next date being 31/03/2024

How do I apply?

We want applications to be easy and fun – would you prefer to send is a short video? Send a voice message? Drop us an email? Maybe just a short write up of an idea? We’ve got you covered – securely drop us an application on this webpage using the handy form below. All applications will be handled securely according to Data Protection and GDPR legislation as set out by Youth Scotland’s Privacy Policy: www.youthscotland.org.uk/privacy

What won’t you fund?

This is a fund specifically to support young people get their ideas into reality and as such are unable to fund staffing costs, running costs or capacity building.

Who is organising this and who was Audrey Milan?

Audrey Milan was Chief Executive of Youth Scotland, a youth worker, and many more things. Audrey sadly passed away in 2019 and the Audrey Milan Memorial Fund has been created to honour Audrey’s work and the lasting impression she made on many people in the course of her life.

The fund is operated by former friends and colleagues whose lives were touched by Audrey and is administered by Youth Scotland.


In our experience, people are not always comfortable supplying banking details and many young people do not – or cannot – access a bank account. To ensure that we are as inclusive as possible, we will ask Youth Scotland youth groups to provide their banking details instead and handle the local distribution of the grants. We require groups to be members as part of our governance policy on payments.

What's Your Big Idea?! Application Form
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What's Your Big Idea?! Application Guidance
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What's Your Big Idea?! Case Study
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