Funding Opportunity - Communities and Families Fund

16th January 2013

3rd Sector Early Intervention Fund ending and new Communities and Families fund will replace it.

Applications must be submitted by 5.00pm, 1st February 2013

The Unified Voluntary Sector Fund, CLD HQ Funds and Early Years Early Action Fund in their present format will come to an end at the end of this current financial year (2012-13). This follows acceptance of all the recommendations from the expert group that was set up to review the UVSF.

One of the recommendations from the expert group was that we consider how best to align funds to improve outcomes for Scotland’s children, families and communities and to support the Scottish Government’s commitment to prevention and early intervention.

A new £20 million third sector early intervention fund will come on stream in 2013-14 and the criteria for this are currently being considered. This new fund will be open to voluntary groups working with children, young people and their families and communities.

Communities and Families Fund
The Minister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell, has launched a grants programme funded jointly by the Scottish Government and the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland. The £6 million fund will support local projects that help families and communities give children the best start in life.

Find out more about the Communities and Families Fund on the Big Lottery website at
http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_communities_and_families_fund

What can the Communities and Families Fund pay for?

You can apply to the Communities and Families Fund
for a grant of between £250 and £10,000. You will
have 12 months to spend the grant.
The Communities and Families Fund can fund 100 per
cent of your project costs. However, we can also fund
part of a larger project if you have other funding in place.
If you are using the Communities and Families Fund grant
to fund part of a larger project, you will need to tell us
when you expect the other funding to be secured.
We can fund the following:
●● sessional workers
●● volunteer expenses
●● activity costs
●● materials or equipment such as IT equipment for
use in the project
●● training costs
●● venue hire
●● organisational overheads (proportional to
the project)
●● purchase or leasing of a new vehicle
●● other transport costs including travel expenses
●● publicity and marketing costs related to the project
●● equipment hire or purchase
●● VAT that you cannot recover
●● minor refurbishment of premises or outdoor
spaces required to deliver the project.

But we cannot fund:
●● salaries of permanent or temporary members
of staff
●● the purchase of, or major refurbishment to, land
or buildings
●● costs or expenditure incurred before you accept
our grant offer
●● any costs which are solely for the benefit of people
living outside Scotland
●● any costs which someone else is paying for or
could be reasonably expected to pay for
●● items that mainly benefit individuals (for example,
equipment that is not shared)
●● travel outside the UK
●● loan repayments
●● VAT that you can recover from HM Revenue
and Customs
●● contributions to general appeals/fundraising
●● any equipment which is not essential to the project
●● costs of activities which promote religion (or no
belief) or costs of political activity where this is the
sole reason for the project or where this is of a
party political nature
●● purchasing or leasing of second hand vehicles.
If you are unsure if your project is
eligible for funding, please contact us at
enquiries.scotland[AT]biglotteryfund.org.uk for advice.