Funding

Funding - find out about council funding initiatives and popular funding streams, including lottery funding, funding for arts, science and technology, funding for sport, the Big Lottery Fund, and Scottish Natural Heritage.

Support - find information and resources to help with compiling your funding application, and get links to organisations that offer support in taking your project ideas forward 

Council funded programmes

This section contains a list of Council funding. Please click on the links for more details. 

• Third Sector Grants for more information contact Community Development Team
• Housing Benefit for more information contact your local Customer Service Point
• Council Tax for more information contact your local Customer Service Point 
• Childcare Grants for more information contact your local Local Area Office 
• Children and Families Social Work Grants local contact for your area here
• Business Rates for support under the SBSS (Small Business Support Scheme) for more help or support contact 01586 555249/555220 or email ndr@argyll-bute.gov.uk
• European Funding - for application forms and further information contact Argyll and the Islands Leader.

Lottery funding 

The www.lotteryfunding.org.uk/ National Lottery funding 

Awards for All  Awards for All is a Lottery grants programme aimed at local communities.

• Range of grant size - You can apply for between £300 and £10,000 depending on the country. 
• Types of scheme - Awards for All is an open scheme aimed at voluntary and community organisations, schools, parish or town councils, and health bodies.  
• Geographical coverage  - It covers the United Kingdom although each country offers a slightly different scheme.

Big Lottery Fund  - The Big Lottery Fund is committed to improving communities and the lives of people most in need.  BIG is an outcomes funder, meaning that their focus is on the difference their funding makes, rather than on the organisations that receive the funding.  They can make grants to organisations in the public and private sectors, and the third sector. However, they recognise the vital role that the third sector has in helping achieve those outcomes and 92% of their funding supports this sector. 

Heritage Lottery Fund  - The Heritage Lottery Fund uses money from the National Lottery to give grants for a wide range of projects involving the local, regional and national heritage of the United Kingdom.

Type of work funded  - HLF has three aims which relate to learning, conservation and participation. Through our grant making they aim to:

• conserve the UK’s diverse heritage for present and future generations to experience and enjoy; 
• help more people, and a wider range of people, to take an active part in and make decisions about their heritage; 
• help people to learn about their own and other people’s heritage. 

Range of grant size - The Heritage Lottery Fund has a range of programmes designed for heritage projects of different types and sizes. They offer grants from £3,000 to multi-million-pound awards. 

Types of scheme  - Heritage Lottery Fund offers a combination of general grants programmes, together with initiatives targeted at particular areas of heritage or themes.  

Geographical coverage  - They award grants throughout the UK (except the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).  They have 11 offices throughout the UK including offices in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

NESTA  - NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) investing in innovators and working to improve the climate for creativity in the UK.

Range of funding   - NESTA is not a mainstream funding provider, but works in partnership with other organisations to test innovative responses to specific economic and social challenges.  NESTA also invests in early-stage, high-technology UK companies.

Creative Scotland  - Creative Scotland is the national leader for Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries. Their job is to help Scotland’s creativity shine at home and abroad.

Geographical coverage   - All of Scotland  

Any priority areas / key messages  - In 2003 Creative Scotland (formaly the Scottish Arts Council) conducted a public consultation on its strategy for lottery-funded arts and the results were subsequently incorporated into their Corporate Plan. They have adopted four key priorities for their lottery strategy 2004 - 2009:  

• making the arts available to those who have had few or no opportunities to appreciate them
• increasing the numbers and broadening the range of people enjoying and taking part in the arts
• increasing arts activity for and by children and young people
• making sure there is a fair geographic spread of buildings, facilities and activities across Scotland.

SportScotland  - sportscotland is the national sport agency for Scotland. Working with partners their responsibility is to develop sport and physical recreational activity in Scotland.

UK Sport  - Working in partnership to lead sport in the UK to world-class success.

Range of grant size - £10,000 - £500,000 

Types of scheme  - Open application – please refer to Building for Sport programme application guidelines. 

Geographical coverage  - Scotland 

The Big Lottery Fund Scotland (BLF) has a range of programmes in its portfolio.

 Small scale

• Investing in Ideas (£500 - £10,000) Big Lottery Fund in Scotland wants to provide groups with an opportunity to spend time and money developing ideas that have a clear public benefit.
• Awards for All ( £500 - £10,000) Funds are available for activities which bring people together, improve their quality of life, encourage them to take part in local activities and help groups to become well organised. 
• 2014 Community (£300 - £2,000) Through the programme BIG hopes to encourage more people to take part in sport or physical activity, and to increase the numbers of those volunteering in sport or physical activity, and to bring communities together through sport and volunteering.
• Communities and Families fund (£250 - £10,000) is a grants programme funded jointly by the Scottish Government and the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland. The fund will support local projects that help families and communities give children the best start in life.

Larger scale

• Investing in Communities (£10,000 - £1 million) open until 30 June 2015  has 3 main areas of investment:
  • Growing Community Assets aims to help communities have more control and influence over their own future through ownership of assets.
  • 21 Century Life, aims to support projects that build stronger families and stronger communities.
  • Life Transitions aims to support  projects that help people at key times of change, helping them to make their lives better for the future. 
• Young Start ( £10,000 - £50,000) aims to create opportunities for children and young people aged between 8 and 24 to help realise their potential.
• Village SOS (£10,000 - £50,000) is an initiative from the Big Lottery Fund to help kick start a rural revival using the power of sustainable community enterprise. They want to support inspiring business ideas that will bring communities together and support activities or enterprises that tackle the challenges they face. 
• The Scottish Land Fund (£10,000 - £750,000) supports rural communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and land assets. It will provide practical support and funding to enable local people to work together to develop their ideas and aspirations and plan and complete viable land and land assets acquisition projects.
• Community Spaces fund  (£10,000 - £250,000) supports communities to become more involved in, and to take responsibility for communal spaces and places. This will bring communities together while making them healthier and happier. We will fund communities to improve the appearance, accessibility and sustainability of local spaces, places and buildings.

SNH  - Scottish Natural Heritage is funded by the Scottish Government through its Grant-in-Aid (GiA). This funding is set by the Scottish Government's Spending Review which establishes the budget for each sector of government over a three year period.  The level of funding is reviewed in line with changing priorities.

They fund a variety of projects that help to deliver their priorities.

2013 is the Year of Natural Scotland.  They are particularly keen to support projects that will help deliver their priorities for this special year. Priorities for the Year of Natural Scotland are:

• celebrating John Muir
• helping young people to engage with nature and landscapes
• supporting events and festivals contributing to the Year of Natural Scotland 2013
• making the links between nature, culture and creativity

They have two different types of grant.

Community Action Grants

For projects that are:

• requesting funding between £1,000 and £20,000
• 12 months or less
• short term projects that promote community action

This grant category DOES NOT support staff posts.

2013 is the Year of Natural Scotland. They are particularly keen to receive Community Action Grant applications that deliver their funding priorities and priorities specific to the Year of Natural Scotland.

Natural Project Grants

For projects that are generally:

• requesting funding of £10,000 and over
• more than 12 months (generally up to 3 years
• longer term delivery and implementation projects

and/or requesting funding for staff posts (regardless of project length or value of funding request)

New programmes will be launching throughout the year, keep up to date with Funding Alert.