Please find below a range of funding support specifically designed to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 Falkirk Volunteer Expenses Fund has been set up to support community groups and voluntary organisations which operate in Falkirk and District, and whose volunteers provide support through community activities during COVID-19 (from Wednesday 1st April). CVS Falkirk will be administering the fund.
Expenses will be reimbursed directly to volunteers in order to reduce organisational time and resources required to administer additional or increased volunteer activity.
All COVID-19-related volunteer-involving groups and organisations are eligible to use the fund. For the full eligibility criteria and details on what can be reimbursed, please view or download the guidance document before registering.
To register, groups and organisations should download and complete the registration form.
For further information, please contact CVS Falkirk by phone: 07872464215, or email: volunteer@cvsfalkirk.org.uk
Charities who receive business rates relief, and occupy a premise with a rateable value of £18,000 (or less), are now eligible to apply for grants of £10,000 from the Business Support Fund, part of Scottish Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The purpose of these grants is to help protect jobs, prevent business closure and promote economic recovery. Falkirk Council has been asked to administer the grants for businesses and charities based in the Falkirk Council area.
Ratepaying charities are eligible if they occupy a property with a rateable value of £18,000 or less. This is in addition to the existing position where charities providing a retail, leisure or hospitality function were already eligible for a £25,000 grant (if they occupy a property with a rateable value of between £18,001 and £51,000).
To apply, or for further information (including full eligibility criteria), please visit the Falkirk Council website.
Alternatively, for support with your application, contact the CVS Falkirk team by email: info@cvsfalkirk.org.uk
Scottish Government’s Wellbeing Fund has reopened for applications, and third sector organisations are strongly encouraged to apply.
The fund supports organisations across the third sector providing important services for people as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those facing additional barriers or have increased requirements. It can fund both immediate and emerging forms of support, to the end of July 2020.
Activities should be based on working with at risk groups with new needs not currently met by existing services, and be focused on providing vital wellbeing support.
Based on the grants made in the first round, applications from groups working with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are particularly welcomed in this second round.
The deadline for applications is Friday 22nd May; applicants should receive a response no later than Friday 5th June.
To apply, or for further information, please visit the SCVO Coronavirus Third Sector Information Hub page.
Through their 100×100 UK COVID-19 Community Relief Programme, Barclays is making 100 donations of £100,000 each to UK charities working to support vulnerable communities impacted by COVID-19, and the associated social and economic hardship caused by the pandemic.
The programme (part of a £10m commitment from their Charity Partners Programme) will focus on supporting charity partners who meet the immediate needs of people across our communities, including low income families, those facing financial hardship, isolated elderly people and key workers.
The programme is open to UK registered charities, who are invited to apply for a donation to support their relief work.
The deadline for applications is Friday 22nd May.
For further information, including programme guidelines and how to apply, please visit the Barclays website.
Foundation Scotland is providing immediate grant funding to support constituted community groups and charities which are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in their local community. Funding is available between £1,000 – £5,000, and will be focused on immediate community needs.
Foundation Scotland aims to turn around funding applications swiftly, and to keep the application process straightforward.
The funding is only open to constituted groups and organisations, who are able to provide a governing document; interested applicants are encouraged to read the Community Response, Recovery and Resilience Fund’s guidance notes and FAQ.
Those seeking immediate community support funding should complete the online application as soon as possible.
For further information, please visit the Foundation Scotland website.
Applications are now open for the Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF).
Part of a £350 million support package by Scottish Government for the sector in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSRF will support organisations across the third sector who are at risk of closure due to a sharp decrease in income, or who are unable to deliver their services as a direct result of the pandemic. The fund’s primary intention is to help these organisations to stabilise and manage cashflows over this period.
Due to the overwhelming demand for the TSRF, the Scottish Government has announced a second phase to the fund and pledged additional funding. For Phase 2, the guidance and criteria have been adapted to maximise the number of third sector organisations who can benefit:
- applicants must be at risk of or unable to cover essential costs within 12 weeks from the date of application
- the maximum grant amount awarded will be £75,000
- funding requests must be for a 3 month period (previously 4 months)
- eligible costs will be mostly limited to overheads and essential staff (administrative for example) who cannot be furloughed; further information is available in the FAQ section
- all grant applications requesting £50,000 or more will be considered for a loan, a grant or a blended approach (part grant, part loan)
Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to read the fund’s guidance notes and FAQ prior to starting an application.
The TSRF is delivered by Firstport, Social Investment Scotland and the Corra Foundation, and offers charities, social enterprises, and community or voluntary groups grants of £5,000 – £100,000. In addition, there will be up to a further £5 million available in fully flexible, 0% interest loans starting at £50,000.
For further information, including how to apply, please visit the SCVO Coronavirus Third Sector Information Hub page.
BEMIS Scotland has set up the Ethnic Minority National Resilience Network (EMNRN), offering support services and sharing best practice from local community responses for those working with and supporting Scotland’s ethnic minority communities during COVID-19.
The network publishes regular newsletters, provides counselling and resources, and has funding around COVID-19 support available:
- Emergency Sustenance Grant Fund (supporting individuals and families, with grants of £60 per adult up to £120, and £40 per child (under 16 years old) up to £200)
- Transition Fund (supporting organisations; grants of £500 – £1,500 are available)
The deadline for applications to the Emergency Sustenance Grant Fund is Friday 29th May.
For further information, including how to apply to either fund, please view the full web article.
Also as a result of Scottish Government’s £350 million of emergency fund (further information available in the full web article from Wednesday 18th March), £40 million available to community organisations (including those which are not registered charities) to support small scale community resilience. The fund will be allocated through community anchor organisations that are already playing a key active role in providing services within the community and will likely have established networking and connections through the communities.
Further information will be released in due course through the SCVO Coronavirus Third Sector Information Hub.
The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government, Aileen Campbell MSP, has announced an additional £350 million of emergency funding for those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding will be made available to councils, third sector groups and charities, businesses and community groups, and is designed to be flexible, enabling them to respond swiftly and according to local need for people impacted economically or through reduced contact with society, including anyone struggling to access food.
The emergency funding package will include:
- a £70 million Food Fund
- a £50 million Wellbeing Fund
- a £40 million Supporting Communities Fund
- £50 million towards meeting an anticipated increase in applications for the existing Council Tax Reduction Scheme and Scottish social security benefits
- a £20 million Third Sector Resilience Fund
For further information, please read the full web article.
Scottish Government also announced a £320 million support package to limit the impact of COVID-19 on businesses in Scotland (which includes small, local business and social enterprises) during the 2020-21 financial year, including:
- a 75% rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors with a rateable value of less than £69,000 from Wednesday 1st April
- an £80 million fund to provide grants of at least £3,000 to small businesses in sectors facing the worst economic impact of COVID-19
- 1.6% rates relief for all properties across Scotland, aiming to reverse the planned below inflation uplift in the poundage, from Wednesday 1st April
- a fixed rates relief of up to £5,000 for all pubs with a rateable value of less than £100,000, again from Wednesday 1st April
The Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, will also write to all local authorities, urging them to respond positively to requests from rate payers for payment deferrals for a fixed period.
For further information, please visit the Scottish Government website.
In addition to the Scottish Government funding and support mentioned above, you can find out the latest information on these funds and other support for local businesses on the Falkirk Council website, including:
