The council’s Supporting Communities Fund will open on 11 January next year, with improvements designed to benefit applicants and communities.
The Supporting Communities Fund (SCF) provides grants of potentially up to £2,500 for the voluntary sector, community councils and parent councils.
The council sought feedback from previous years’ applicants, to improve the fund’s impact for local communities and the process for organisations.
As a result, at its meeting today, Council agreed a number of key changes.
SCF awards must deliver benefits for communities based on these criteria:
- Resilient Communities – rebuilding from a pandemic (where funds are unavailable from other sources) and increasing community capacity
- Greener, cleaner communities – climate change mitigation
- Creative Communities – supporting health and wellbeing
In addition:
- Applicants awarded funding will have more time to complete their project (18 months rather than 12)
- Good practice in addressing inequalities, emerging from funded projects, will be reported to the council’s Equalities Forum for wider application where appropriate.
- All applicants awarded funding are to display the council logo in communications and promotions of their funded project as part of evidencing how council funding is being spent
- The council will explore a fast track process for applications of less than £1,000, for financial year 2022-23
Councillor Mary-Jean Devon, Policy Lead for Community Development said:
“Local organisations do great work for their local communities with the help of the council’s Supporting Communities Fund. We listened to what people told us and have made changes to ensure that funding continues to match communities’ needs, and to support local groups in turning funding into effective action.”
The council’s SCF will open for applications in January 2021, with a closing date end of March. Details will be announced in January on the council’s website and social media channels.
For more information about the decisions made today, please see the council’s website
Examples of the kind of project funded previously include:
- Oban Youth Café received funding to start up a new club for young people with support needs.
- Shopper Aide: funding supported 35 people to meet each week at the “Elderberries” club for a nutritious lunch. 90% of the clients required support to get to and from the venue
- Cowal Cinema Club received funding for monthly screenings of Dementia Friendly Cinema - appropriate films for dementia suffers and their carers, attracting 200 people.
- Cove and Kilcreggan Community Council received funding to enhance their area, through plants, maps/leaflets and an improved on-line presence.