EVOC is working with People’s Health Trust to promote their Active Communities fund to Edinburgh organisations and help them with the first stage of the application process. At first glance, organisations may think that the remaining time to apply is too short or that the criteria doesn’t fit their project, so read on if you’re interested in the funding but have these concerns!
Let’s look at the application first of all. This stage of the application process is an opportunity for both the organisation and People’s Health Trust to make sure that what you want to do fits in with the priorities for this fund. For this reason, it’s pretty brief – it’s simply a filtering process at this stage rather than asking people to spend a lot of time of time completing a long, detailed application when this funding might not even be right for them. There are a few questions about your organisation, how the funding that you’re applying for will be used, and who the participants in the project will be.
And now the criteria: there are several points that are quite easy to check such as your organisation’s income, your reserves, and your structure. But there are a few equally critical but slightly less concrete criteria that you’ll need to understand. First of all, the focus of this fund is that it should be used for people who experience economic and social disadvantage. One way to ensure this is the case for your participants is that they can come from one of the areas marked as ‘fundable’ on this map. It’s not essential that your project should be based within the fundable areas as long as the people who will participate in the project are.
What if the people that will be involved in the project come from several different fundable areas or come from all over the city and not necessarily fundable areas?
If this is the case, you can still apply but you would fall under the category of Communities of Interest. All the same criteria apply, but you would use a different application form and if people are coming from non-fundable areas, you will need to be able demonstrate that they fit the criteria of being people who experience economic and social disadvantage – are they in receipt of benefits, or in temporary accommodation for example?
Secondly, the project that you want to use the funding for should be developed and shaped by the participants themselves. It should be something that you know that the people who you plan to involve want. Maybe you have run a pilot project that was really successful and people loved participating in, but you don’t have the funds to carry it on. Maybe the people who use your services have asked for support for a project that they want but you haven’t had the capacity to do it. Or, perhaps you’re a constituted community group and have an idea for some project or activity that will benefit your community – whether that community is a neighbourhood or a community of interest, it is a group of people sharing a common identity.
As well as being shaped by the people who will participate, it should be something that brings that community together. This fund isn’t suitable for things like counselling sessions or other types of one-to-one work, it’s for projects that encourage community and connectedness.
All of these might appear to be quite restrictive, but in fact the point of it is try to target these funds for the people who need it most and to ensure that it will be used for projects working with people to ensure a real difference is made to their lives in a way that they have chosen and fully participated in.
If you have questions, are interested in applying, or already have the application and would like someone to read your draft before you submit it, get in touch: [email protected]
You can find further information and download the necessary forms here.
The deadline for applications for this fund is February 8th.
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