community grants – Page 2 – The NEN

Call for communities in Scotland to apply for Environmental Grants

The Action Earth campaign, run by national charity Volunteering Matters, has officially launched its 2020 grant giving scheme, encouraging volunteers to get involved in planting activities and habitat builds designed to enrich local nature and help tackle the current climate emergency.

The campaign, which is funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, offers easy to access grants of up to £500 for environmental activities across Scotland.

Volunteering Matters Action Earth grants are available to any group of volunteers carrying out practical environmental improvements or wildlife habitat creation in their local green spaces. Previous projects have included wildflower meadow and pond creation, woodland renovations, shared foraging projects and the establishment of new community gardens or food growing areas.

Projects should offer a safe volunteering experience and will have to adhere to Scottish Government guidance and safe practice around Covid-19. Groups should only apply once they are certain that activities can be supervised and carried out safely within current and developing recommendations.

Volunteering Matters Action Earth is especially keen to hear from projects whose work benefits disadvantaged communities especially in urban areas or in places with reduced local amenity. Last year, 167 projects benefited from Action Earth grant funding, and 7,240 volunteers were involved in improving biodiversity in their community.

Volunteering Matters Action Earth also offers enhanced £500 grants to projects which significantly benefit people with defined health needs. This could include people with learning or physical disabilities, dementia, mental health issues or other medical conditions.

SNH Chief Executive Francesca Osowska said: “We all benefit from nature in so many ways – and we all have an important role to play to create a nature-rich future for Scotland.

“Action Earth projects and volunteers are leading the way with their fantastic work to improve local biodiversity in communities across the country.

“We look forward to continuing to support this crucial work to improve the state of our nature, which we know is vital to help solve the climate emergency we all face.”

For those looking for inspiration for their projects, the Volunteering Matters Action Earth website has instructions on how to build bird boxes, bat boxes, frog hibernacula, hedgehog boxes and bee/insect homes.

More information is available and applications can be made NOW at the Volunteering Matters Action Earth website:

volunteeringmatters.org.uk/project/action-earth

£10,000 grant available for Healthy Heart projects for Scottish communities

Community groups across the whole of Scotland that help local people look after their hearts can now apply for a regional grant up to £10,000, thanks to national charity Heart Research UK and the Subway® brand. Continue reading £10,000 grant available for Healthy Heart projects for Scottish communities

University support backs locals’ vision for a better Edinburgh

Communities across Edinburgh and the Lothians are to benefit from a £70,000 project to support groups tackling vital social issues. The University of Edinburgh’s Community Grants Scheme will help to provide support for children with disabilities, tackle the causes of poverty and aid vulnerable women. Continue reading University support backs locals’ vision for a better Edinburgh

£25,000 community cash up for grabs

Community groups and local projects in Edinburgh are being given the chance to win up to £25,000 as part of a major new Community Awards scheme, which opened for nominations on 1 June. Continue reading £25,000 community cash up for grabs

Community cash in Inverleith!

Inverleith small grant fund

Did you know that any local constituted group, with a bank account needing at least two signatures, can apply for the Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s Community Grants Fund for projects that benefit the local community and help progress one of our local community plan priorities?

We have a balance of £6,272 to allocate this financial year, so please download the application form and guidance and get your completed form to me asap!

Elaine Lennon, Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership

£eith Decides! Applications open this weekend

Leith Neighbourhood Partnership will soon invite local community projects to apply for funding from a pot of more than £22,000 as part of one of the longest running participatory budgeting projects in the UK.

Now in its sixth year, £eith Decides allows groups to apply for grants of up to £1,000 each, to be spent on projects that benefit the local community.

This year’s application period is open from 11am this Saturday (24 October) until 5pm on Wednesday 18 November. A Steering Group made up of local people considers all applications to make sure that they meet the criteria.

A special event will then take place in February 2016, at which members of the public will get the chance to talk to applicants and learn about their projects. Local people aged eight and over who live, work, study or volunteer in Leith are then invited to vote on which projects they would most like to see receive the money.

The Citadel Arts Group, a charity which works with older people to express their creativity through living memory and drama projects has had repeat success with £eith Decides and is a great example of what the funding can do for community groups. They first approached £eith Decides in 2012 for funding to help four pupils from St Mary’s Primary perform a community play on healthy eating written by one of the their older members.

Liz Hare from Citadel Arts Group said: “We have benefited greatly from £eith Decides, both in terms of the funding and also the networking on the voting days which has created two great projects. We have twice successfully applied to £eith Decides for funding to continue the club and enable the young people to perform at Leith Festival in 2014 and 2015. We are thankful to £eith Decides and the people of Leith, not just for the money but also for the chances to network and grow our group in exciting new directions.”

Potential applicants are invited to an information session at 11am on Saturday 24 October at McDonald Road Library, where advice will be available on eligibility criteria and how to apply.

Councillor Maureen Child, Convener of the Communities and Neighbourhoods Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “£eith Decides continues to be exceedingly popular. Twenty five projects received awards in 2015 supporting a range of activities including English classes, art workshops, purchase of sports equipment, and the delivery of outdoor activities.

“As it is now in its sixth year, it has been fantastic to see the results from past recipients. All these worthwhile projects that have benefited from the scheme have made a difference to people in the community.

“February’s public event, which will be held as part of the process, will give community groups the opportunity to raise awareness about their work too. Neighbourhood Partnership events like this are valued by people who welcome the opportunity to make decisions about the area in which they live.”

For up-to-date information about £eith Decides visit the Facebook page –www.facebook.com/voteforleithdecides and the webpage at www.edinburghnp.org.uk/leith.

Small grants available in Inverleith

Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership’s small community grants fund is available again this year to support small, one-off projects. Proposed projects should show how they help progress one of our four key priorities and any group that is constituted and has a bank account can apply.

We have £26301 to allocated this year and welcome applications now for our meeting on 25 May. Other applications can be assessed and decided at future meetings.

Please click here for guidance and application form.

Time’s running out for Postcode Community Grant applications

Deadline for applications is THIS FRIDAY (30 January)!

Postcode Community Trust has launched a Community Grants programme, through which charities can apply for anything between £500 – £20,000 to deliver projects that positively impact on their local community.

Funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, applications for £2,000 or under are open to organisations that are not registered charities (although registered charities may apply for this smaller amount if they wish). Applications for between £2,000 – £20,000 will be open to registered charities only.

The Community Grants Programme will be accepting applications for projects that meets one or more of the following funding themes:

Advancement of Community Development
Advancement of Health
Environmental Improvement

All regions in Scotland and Wales are eligible to apply for funding in each funding round. However, only certain areas of England may apply – please see the website below for full details.

For more information on how to apply, visit the Postcode Community Trust website.

Blackhall Athletic nets Neighbourhood support

Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership recently awarded a community grant to local sports club Blackhall Athletic. The club used the funding to equip some of their teams with new tops, and INP Convener Councillor Nigel Bagshaw called in to a training session at Broughton High School to meet players and coaches last week.

Nigel said: “It’s great to support local initiatives like this. Community grants can make a real difference to small organisations and we’re delighted to be able to help Blackhall Athletic, who are doing a great job with our young people”.

Blackhall Athletic’s John Adams said: “We spend an awful lot of time trying to raise funds to support club activities but everyone knows how difficult that has been in recent times. We are constantly working at it and we hope to be self-sustaining in the future, but in the meantime this grant is really welcome. Quite simply, without this support we would not be able to continue to do what we do – so we are all really grateful to Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership”.

Blackhall Athletic is run by twenty-five adult volunteers who carry out a variety of tasks including coaching, first aid, administration and and committee duties. The club
currently has five teams, four boys and one girls, and they plan to start two more over the coming months – giving well over one hundred local boys and girls the opportunity to regularly take part in active sport.

John added: “As well as the sporting element, there are other benefits too. All of our boys and girls will, through training and playing, undertake over 180 hours of physical activity which is a health benefit.

“And then there’s teamwork. Our players come from all over the area; they go to different schools and come from different backgrounds but they are all the same when they put on the club strip. This teaches them that they must all work together to achieve success and the young people learn the life skills they will need as they grow into adulthood.”

That sounds like a home ‘win, win’ for both Blackhall Athletic and the wider Inverleith community.

Leith residents to allocate community cash

People in Leith will soon be asked by Leith Neighbourhood Partnership to decide how a pot of more than £20,000 in funding should be spent on projects that benefit their local community.

Now in its fourth year, £eith Decides, allows community groups to apply for grants of up to £1,000 each. Once the applications are in, local people are invited to vote on which projects they would most like to see receive the money. A special public event will take place in February, at which members of the public will get the chance to learn about applicants and their projects.

Previous successful applicants include Prospect Bank School Parents’ Association for an outdoor climbing frame, the Goosander Resident’s Association for a living garden, the Citadel Youth Centre for a young mums’ parenting course, and the North Edinburgh Dementia Care group, which ran podiatry sessions for older clients.

This year’s application period is now open and runs until November 8, when a Steering Group made up of local people will consider all applications to make sure that they meet the criteria – Advice is available on how to meet the criteria.

Councillor Maureen Child, Convener of the Communities and Neighbourhoods Committee at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “£eith Decides has proven to be extremely popular, and many new applicants came forward last year. It was fantastic that so many worthwhile projects, all of which have made a difference to people, were given help in this way.
“The public event held as part of the process gave community groups the opportunity to raise awareness about their work too. Neighbourhood Partnership events like this are valued by people who welcome the opportunity to make decisions about the area in which they live.”

For up-to-date information about £eith Decides please visit its Facebook page – www.facebook.com/voteforleithdecides

and the £eith decides page at www.edinburghnp.org.uk/leith.