voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing (adults), Year 2
This Fund for third sector organisations was extended into a second year by the Scottish Government for launch by 17 October 2022. Just over £1 million is available in this financial year, with no word yet on whether funding will be available for 2023/24. The differences in this Fund between Year 1 (October 2021) and Year 2 (October 2022) are very small indeed, and these are highlighted in the guidance document.
It is being managed in Fife by Fife Voluntary Action, with support from local statutory partners.
This page contains all of the latest information about the local funding position, how organisations can apply and how to access support. Further down you will see a list of questions and answers to help organisations understand the Fund and how to apply. Significant support is available from FVA to help organisations to apply to the Fund and to manage any grant award.
This page sets out the key criteria for eligible organisations and projects.
The online application process will go live on Friday 07 October 2022, the deadline for applications is 07 November 2022.
Please remember, we are available to provide support with your project idea and application.
Applications can be started from: 07/10/2022
Application deadline: 07/11/2022
Minimum amount you can apply for: £1,000, maximum: £50,000
This funding has made been available thanks to Scottish Government.
The Fund is for working with adults, but where the focus is the adult, work that also involves the family is likely to be eligible. We will only be able to fund activity which focuses on benefiting people in the following list (you only need to focus on one group, but you can work with multiple groups):
• women (particularly young women, and women and young women affected by male sexual violence);
• people with a long term health condition or disability;
• people who are or have been on the highest risk (previously shielding) list;
• people from a Minority Ethnic background;
• refugees and those with no recourse to public funds;
• people facing socio-economic disadvantage;
• people experiencing severe and multiple disadvantage;
• people with diagnosed mental illness;
• people affected by psychological trauma (including adverse childhood experiences);
• people who have experienced bereavement or loss;
• people disadvantaged by geographical location (particularly remote and rural areas);
• older people;
• people affected by homelessness;
• LGBTQIAA+ communities.
Please note that the above list is not in any order of priority or importance.
All funded activity must contribute to one of the following 4 local fund outcomes:
1. People in Fife will be better able to connect and/or re-connect.
Examples of activity might relate to transport in rural areas (e.g. the concept of 20 Minute Neighbourhoods), befriending calls/visits, dementia cafés, lunch clubs, etc.
2. People in Fife will have improved mental health and wellbeing due to increased access to physical activity, diet and nutrition, life-long learning or some other activity that brings people together and reduces social isolation.
Examples might include "Green Health" initiatives, environmental and growing projects, cooking clubs, safe outdoor spaces, walking groups, exercise classes, IT classes etc.
3. People in Fife will have better access to services which help to tackle poverty and achieve income maximisation.
Examples might include homelessness projects, food banks, signposting, fuel poverty, etc.
4. Fife will have a stronger local infrastructure which can respond effectively to the mental health and wellbeing support needs of at-risk groups.
Examples might include volunteering (including for hard to reach people), more regular community events, projects promoting suicide prevention and those that give the ability for at-risk groups to have their voices heard.
What CAN be funded:
• Equipment
• One-off events
• Hall hire for community spaces
• Small capital spend up to £5,000 for land or building projects
• Staff costs
• Training costs
• Transport
• Overheads - utilities costs
• Volunteer expenses
• Helping people to stay safe (PPE for small gatherings, activity, etc)
• Childcare and other caring costs
• Costs releated directly to the current cost-of-living crisis
What CANNOT be funded:
• Clinical services and CBT
• Contingency costs, loans, endowments, or interest
• Electricity generation and feed-in tariff payment
• Political or religious campaigning
• Profit-making/fundraising activities
• VAT you can reclaim
• Statutory activities
• Overseas travel
• Alcohol
When can organisations start applying to the Fund?
The online application system will go live on Friday 07 October 2022. We will send out an e-mail bulletin to alert everybody, so please make sure you are signed up to receive them. This page will always contain the latest information, so check back here every now and again.
Who can apply to the Fund?
It is for third sector organisations who can evidence a contribution to mental health and wellbeing. Most of the funding will be prioritised for grassroots organisations turning over less than £1m. If your group does not yet have a constitution then please get in touch with us to discuss where you are in your formation journey, and we can advise on your readiness to apply as well as the support we can provide.
We applied in Year 1, can we apply for Year 2?
Yes, regardless of whether your application was successful or not. If it was rejected and you wish to resubmit, then please ensure you address the issues the panel had with your Year 1 application. If your project was funded, you can apply to extend it, if the project has been successful and met the conditions for the Fund. The application process to do this will be much easier and quicker, but there is no guarantee that you will be successful. You can submit a new project proposal, but this will require completing the full application form.
Is this funding only for mental health organisations?
Absolutely not - it is designed to be accessed by organisations that don't specialise in mental health but make a clear contribution to mental health and wellbeing in the adult population (16+).
Can we get help to apply?
Yes - we can help organisations with their project idea and to apply. Support is also available to manage the grant and submit the required monitoring information. Support staff cannot give definitive feedback on how successful an application might be and they are not involved in the assessment process, but they have extensive experience of supporting grant applications and know more about this Fund than anybody else.
Is this Fund available in other parts of Scotland?
Yes - each local authority area has been given an allocation of money to achieve the same outcomes. However, it is important to note that local partnerships are able to tailor certain aspects of the Fund and to determine local priorities, criteria and so on - please double check the details of each Fund and the guidance before submitting an application.
Where can I get the form to complete?
There isn't a form - grant applications will be done on this website. You do not have to complete it in one sitting or on the same device, you can get other people to fill out parts of it for you, if you want to.
Can I get a copy of the application that I submit?
Yes - every time you submit something on our grant application system you will receive a receipt and full copy of what you submitted by e-mail, automatically.
How much can we apply for?
The minimum is £1,000, the maximum is £50,000. However, most of the projects we fund will be around £10,000 - this is what has been requested by the Minister. Applications that are closer to £20,000 or above will need to request an exception to seek that amount AND must demonstrate some meaningful partnership involvement. Basically, give us a brief explanation of why you are seeking a higher amount and why you think you can spend a higher amount in a fairly short timescale.
Can new organisations without a bank account apply?
No. They can partner with another third sector organisation who will be the grant recipient and held accountable for the grant. Contact us if this is a concern for you.
Must the money be spent by the end of March 2023?
No, but this is money for activity in this financial year, so the activity must be started and progress significantly in this year. So, we will allow some monies (not most of it) to be carried over into next financial year. If you cannot do most of the work in the current year, you must let us know.
Will Year 3 funding become available?
We don't think so. This Fund has been successful and so we hope that the Minister decides to extend it, but as things stand this will be the final year of this Fund.
Can we apply for capital costs?
Yes, but only up to £5k towards significant capital costs (not small items of equipment).
Our SCIO status isn't confirmed yet, can we still apply?
Please contact us - we want to allocate all of this money and fund good activity in Fife, so we will do what we can to support you to apply. By working with us, we can assess risk and still support applications from organisations who are working towards registration but haven't yet achieved it.
Are partnership bids allowed/preferred?
We always like to see organisations collaborating and working together, but it is not required for most applications. It is required for requests for more than £15k. We will consider partnership bids submitted by the lead partner, as long as all other criteria are met (for example, the lead partner is a third sector organisations and so on).
Can colleagues work on the application form with me?
Yes, the online application system allows you to save your answers as you go, close out and resume where you left off. You don't need to complete it in order either. You can share your unique website link with anybody you choose.
Can an organisation submit more than one application?
Yes, within reason. You can submit more than one if the projects are different. If, for example, it's the same project but in different areas, it's one project for a larger amount. We are focussed on the quality of the activity and the impact on the at-risk groups.
What small equipment can we purchase that wouldn't be classed as capital expenditure?
Our guidance says that we will fund small equipment but it also says we can't provide any money for capital expenditure unless it's a large scale building or land project (in which case we are limited to a maximum of £5,000 contribution). These are rules set by Scottish Government that we must follow. As a rough guide, anything that would be capitalised in your accounts is not eligible. Broadly speaking, individual items costing several hundred pounds or more, would be capitalised and thus ineligible, for example a laptop, large TV, vehicle etc. Less expensive items, even if bought in quantity, should be fine. Stationery, consumables and materials for use in workshops, classes, events etc. should all be fine.
We're here to help organisations to make the most of the grants programmes that we manage - we want to help you to access the funds, manage them and report on the difference it has made. If you've got a grant from us, there are terms and conditions about keeping in touch with us and seeking our help if you're not too sure about anything.
If you're in the process of applying (or thinking about applying) then we're here to help answer questions and can help you with the completion of your funding application. Call us on 0800 389 6046 during business hours or e-mail the appropriate team directly using [email protected]