Welcome to the Supporting Communities Fund (SCF).
The SCF is open to third sector groups, including Community Councils and Parent Councils; for projects taking place in the council area of Argyll and Bute.
Our application process is now online, however paper copies are available if preferred, and the application is available in different formats, including large print or other languages.
Support with your application is available from your local Community Development Officer (details below); alternatively, please email supportingcommunitiesfund@argyll-bute.gov.uk or call 01436 658881.
| Area | Community Development Officer | |
|---|---|---|
| Bute & Cowal | Ailie Law | ailie.law@argyll-bute.gov.uk |
| Bute & Cowal | Julie Fish | Julie.Fish2@argyll-bute.gov.uk |
| Helensburgh & Lomond | David Hagerty | david.hagerty@argyll-bute.gov.uk |
| Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands | Antonia Baird | antonia.baird@argyll-bute.gov.uk |
| Oban, Lorn and the Isles | Kirsty McLuckie | kirsty.mcluckie@argyll-bute.gov.uk |
Data protection
The information supplied will be used for the purpose of assessing your Supporting Communities Fund Application, and appropriate measures are in place to protect your personal data. A full privacy notice, which provides information about your rights under current data protection legislation and details about what will happen to your personal data can be found in our Privacy Policy in the online form.
If you need this in an alternative format, please contact Community Development on 01436 658881.
Essential Details & Dates:
- Applicants can apply for up to 100% of the total funding costs for any project / activity.
- The maximum award available is £1,500.
- The closing date for application forms is before 23.59pm on Sunday5th July 2026.
- There is only one round of funding per year.
- Your group’s annual income should usually be under £150,000 (exceptions apply and can be discussed with CDO – e.g. group is undertaking building project).
- Decisions will be made final at Area Committee meetings in September 2026.
- Applications must be for activities taking place from September 2026, completed by end March 2028, and be compliant with the Equalities Act 2010.
What you need to apply
Please check that your group meets the conditions below and can provide the listed documents.
If you are unsure if you meet the criteria, this can be further discussed at conversation stage, with the Community Development team, who can offer advice and support on applying for the fund.
Your group
- Your group must be not for profit and have a clear community or social purpose. Any money made must be put back into the group or its activities.
- Your activities must mainly take place in Argyll and Bute.
- Membership of your group must be open to everyone.*
- Your project does not promote political or religious views in a way that excludes others. **
- Your group must not already be receiving funding from Argyll and Bute Council for the same project or activities.
- A second person from your group must agree to be listed on the application as a counter signatory.
* Certain exceptions may apply (e.g. youth clubs / senior citizens group)
**Supporting Communities Fund is open to all, including religious organisations offering wider activities which can evidence wider community benefit - e.g. affiliated church group running a lunch club / youth club.)
Required Documents
- A copy of your constitution or governing document.
- A recent bank statement for the group.
- Your most recent annual accounts. These should be signed and checked by someone independent of your group
or, - If your group is new, a cashflow forecast or projected costs, also checked and signed by an independent person.
Safeguarding
Vulnerable Adult or Child Protection Policies and PVG / Disclosure checks are necessary if working with Children Young People or vulnerable adults. Argyll and Bute Child protection information.
Events or Galas
If you are planning an event, as part of the application you will need to provide:
Public Liability Insurance
You will be asked for further evidence at a later stage in the process.
Applications for funding of events, galas, exhibitions, concerts, sporting events and community festivals are expected to meet statutory obligations regarding public safety and environmental health. Please contact envhealth@argyll-bute.gov.uk for further advice.
Funded projects are required to use the Argyll & Bute Council logo on any promotional / advertising material. You will be sent these if your application is successful.
Completing the Form
For your application to be considered, you will need to submit an application form and provide all the relevant items listed in the checklist by 23.59pm on Sunday 5th July 2026.
If required, the form is available in different formats, including large print and can be translated into other languages.
Support with your application is available from your local Community Development Officer (CDO), see contacts below, or by contacting supportingcommunitiesfund@argyll-bute.gov.uk or 01436 658881.
Section 1. Organisation Details
Please use this section to tell us about your organisation and the person who will be the key contact for the application. We suggest you use the name your organisation is known by on your bank account, or your OSCR registration, rather than any local name.
The assessment process also includes a chance to discuss your application further in an online meeting, or phone call. This is a positive process which allows you to say more about your project and make sure we all the information we need to fully assess your application. You may bring other people from your organisation, to an online meeting – such as your treasurer, or some of the people you work with.
Section 2. Project Details
In this section you can explain what you intend to do, and what difference you are hoping to make. You can tell us about your evidence for this in section 4.
Which areas of Argyll and Bute is your application for?
In this section, please select the area in which your project/activities will mainly focus. If it covers more than one area, please select the one your activities will mainly take place in, or contact us to discuss further.
There are four separate funds, one in each of the administrative areas of the council. These areas are Bute and Cowal, Helensburgh and Lomond, Oban, Lorn and the Isles and Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands.
Which of these 4 categories does your project align with?
Please read the descriptions of each of our 4 categories, so that you can select the most relevant one and tell us how you meet this.
Please select the category which most fits with your project and provide further details on how your project aligns with this category. You can discuss with the team if you are not sure which category to choose.
Fairer Communities
Tackling poverty by sharing opportunities - Projects seeking to remove financial barriers for citizens, particularly children and young people, to provide opportunities for learning, sports, activities, or employment. For example, this may include funding of transport costs, sports equipment or musical instruments.
Resilient Communities
Resilient Communities – capacity building, preparing for and responding to community needs. This could include events, such as extreme weather; economic or other conditions impacting on communities, community-led inclusive economic development. Also developing Community Actions Plans, Local Place Plans, feasibility studies; as well as the many ways communities want to upskill and increase their capacity to improve their places.
Greener, Cleaner Communities
Environmental action to support addressing climate change – this could include a range of activities to improve impact on the environment, such as energy efficiency measures for both organisations and community members, enhancement and restoration of the natural environment, making the countryside more accessible, decarbonisation activities – walking projects, sharing of facilities and resource efficiency initiatives such as community transport.
Creative Communities
Creativity for health and wellbeing - this could include projects delivering activities related to music, art, theatre, language, history and heritage and in particular where participation in creative projects improves health and wellbeing.
The next question asks if you are a community event or festival
If you select Yes, you will be asked to provide evidence of your event insurance and that you have contacted the Safety Advisory Group to make them aware of your event.
You can do this by emailing envhealth@argyll-bute.gov.uk and also copying (cc) to supportingcommunitiesfund@argyll-bute.gov.uk.
Please select Yes/No for the following questions. If selecting yes to ‘Are you working with any other community groups or organisations to deliver the project?’ please provide details of the organisations in the box.
Enter your project start date and end date.
The start date should not be before the Area Committee has approved the grant. This will be in early September 2026. The end date should not be after end March 2028.
Section 3: Who is the project for and what is the impact?
Please complete details below of who you feel this project / activities will benefit with your community. It may be worth considering the community impact of your project and how it may help to:
- Develop skills
- Promote health and well-being
- Tackle social exclusion and inequalities
- Community Impact
- Alleviation Rural Isolation
- Partnership Working
You can include evidence of need for your work such as consultation results, local plans or policies, local statistics and what your community is telling you.
Next, please select any equalities groups the project will target by clicking Yes/No.
Please note you will be asked to report on this at the end of your project/activities. If you select “young people” or “vulnerable adults” you will be given a reminder to include your Safeguarding policies.
Section 4. Finance: Activities.
In this section tell us how much money you need to fund your project.
To add other items/activity in the online form click “Add Expenditure” on the screen.
We would like to see a breakdown of costs. This is a revenue fund – please list mainly revenue costs. These are things like daily operating costs and include salaries, venue hire, travel costs or utilities.
Section 5. Finance: Capital & Banking
Please tell us the annual turnover of your organisation and whether this was typical.
You can add more than one bank account in the online form by clicking the orange button on the screen.
Next, provide bank account details of where any funding award would be paid. This should be the same account as the bank statement you provide as part of your attachments.
Please enter details of any unrestricted cash reserves for each bank account held. This is the amount of funds held in each bank account, which is not already reserved for other purposes, and therefore cannot be used to deliver this project.
Section 6. Finance: Funding
Please detail any other funding or pending applications for this project. Please select Yes / No for any Service Level Agreements you may already have.
Please, also detail any other funders / match funding necessary for the project. Add more than one in the online form by clicking the “Add above” or “Add below” buttons on the screen.
Section 7. Declaration
Please name another person from your organisation who is aware of this application. This must be different from the main contact name given.
The limit on capital spend is £500. Capital expenditure is spent on assets, items which last longer than one financial year. The term 'assets' does not include items classed as consumables - these are goods which are bought, used and replaced, such as office stationery, small tools and equipment, clothing or toys, which would all be eligible for grant funding.
For advice on expenditure, contact your local CDO (see table above).
Section 8: Checklist
All organisations should submit at least 3 documents – their constitution, a recent bank statement and annual accounts.
You might need other documents if you are working with children and or vulnerable adults, or you are running an event or gala. You will have been advised of these in the earlier sections.
Files can be dragged and dropped in the box in the online application. Please add a helpful identifiable file name to each.
Finally, don’t forget the checkbox and you are ready to submit. Good luck!
Thank you for your time in applying and considering this fund for your project. You will be sent a PDF of your application by email on submission.
As part of the assessment process, you have the option to have a conversation about your application with a member of the team, to ensure that you have provided all the information needed. Please tell us if you would like to take this opportunity and if you prefer an online meeting or a phone call.
After submitting your application, please check our website for updates on general progress with the fund.
If you wish to discuss your application further, please contact us at supportingcommunitiesfund@argyll-bute.gov.uk or 01436 658881.
If your project is successful, we may ask to share photographs of your project on our website and we will contact you regarding this. We may also ask about evidence of the success of your project from your social media. We encourage you to use the hashtag: #abplace2b and the Council logo (which will be provided).
What happens after I apply?
After an application is submitted, you will receive an acknowledgement email, and if you asked for a conversation about your application you will be contacted about this.
Your application will then be assessed by Council officers. It will be assessed based on how well your application meets the criteria for the fund and the detail provided in the questions asked in the application form, the same method will be used for all applying to the fund. However, funding awards will be subject to the level of funding available and the number of applications will vary across different areas of Argyll & Bute.
Following the assessment stage, a report will be prepared for Council Area Committees in September with recommendations for Councillors to make the final decision on the awards.
When will I hear the outcome of my application?
After the Area Committees September 2026, you will be contacted to inform you if your grant application has been successful.
We will contact all applicants after decisions are made at area committees.
If you have been successful, a contract will then be issued to you, which you will need to sign and return before funds can be released.
Funds awarded will need to be spent within 18 months (by end of March 2028 at the latest). Groups funded will be required to evidence how they have spent the funds by completing an End of Project Monitoring Report, further details on this will be provided.
Funded projects are required to use the Argyll & Bute Council logo on any promotional / advertising material. We may ask to share photographs of your project on our website, and we will contact you regarding this. We may also ask about evidence of the success of your project from your social media. We encourage you to use the hashtag: #abplace2b and the Council logo (which will be provided).
What happens if my project is unsuccessful?
If you have not been successful, you will be notified of the decision, and we will offer support and feedback to you. We will send you an email and there will be an option to arrange a meeting with your local community development officer for further advice and support and an explanation of the reasons your application was unsuccessful.
Contact
If you would like to discuss your project proposal with your local Community Development Officer, before submitting the final application, you can contact. supportingcommunitiesfund@argyll-bute.gov.uk or call 01436 658881.
Additionally, if you have not heard from an officer within 3 weeks of the closing date, please contact us.
