On this page, you will find the FAQs for Year 4 of the Edinburgh Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund. We will continue to update this page throughout the application process, so please check back regularly or get in touch: [email protected]
Who can apply?
- Any charity or not-for-profit organisation working in Edinburgh with an annual turnover of no more than £2million. This includes:
– Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIO)
– Unincorporated Associations
– Trusts
– Companies Limited by Guarantee
– Not-for-profit or asset-locked company or Community Interest Companies (CIC)
– Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies
– Community Councils
– Constituted community groups
– Parent Councils (subject to conditions)
– Un-constituted Groups
Please note, that organisations with an annual turnover of over £1million will be subject to additional criteria to ensure they are sufficiently focused and engaged with the communities they intend to deliver in.
How much can we apply for?
- Organisations can apply for a maximum grant of £20,000*
*To support a breadth of projects across all localities in the City, we expect most grant awards will be in the region of £10,000 or less.
If you are applying for a small grant of £5,000 or less, the process is slightly simpler. However, we would still encourage you to take part in the collaboration event on Tue 22 Oct to explore opportunities to work with others. You will not be expected to submit a final proposal but will have the chance to update your expression of interest after the event.
How long should our project run for?
- Projects should last between 12 and 18 months.
(The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is currently an annual fund announced year-on-year by the Scottish Government)
Can we apply for a project with another organisation?
- We strongly encourage partnership working between organisations so would happily accept a joint application – we call this a partnership project.
How do we apply for a partnership project?
- One organisation should apply as the lead partner and will receive the grant payment.
- Each organisation is subject to a financial cap of £20,000 per project.
- If you are applying as part of a partnership, the maximum grant amount still applies per organisation.
- We would expect any grant award to be divided fairly between partners and clear reasoning to support a proposal of more than £10,000 per organisation.
- Before any grant payment can be made there must be a memorandum of understanding in place detailing the distribution of funding between the partner organisations.
Can we apply for funding for capital costs?
- You can apply for up to £5,000 of capital costs as part of any application which can total no more than £20,000. The capital costs must be directly related to the proposed activity which you plan to deliver.
- Capital costs must be fully funded before they can be considered and any match funding agreements must be in place.
- The project site must also have a lease agreement for a minimum of 5 years.
- In a partnership project application, each organisation may apply for up to £5,000.
Will our application still be considered if no one from our organisation can attend the community commissioning events?
- Yes, your application will still be considered.
- The two community commissioning events are designed to help you connect with others and find opportunities to collaborate, they are also your chance to contribute to the decision-making process.
Will you be sharing expressions of interest with everyone at the events?
- Yes – the purpose of the collaboration event (Tue 22 Oct) is to discuss the needs of communities across Edinburgh to improve mental health and wellbeing and enable a holistic, collaborative approach to achieving that. Therefore, we will share the expressions of interest publicly in advance to provide as many opportunities as possible to identify collaboration opportunities between organisations.
Can we submit more than one expression of interest?
- No, you can only submit one expression of interest and only hold one grant
Can we be a partner on one project and submit our own expression of interest?
- You can only financially benefit from one award.
- You can hold your own grant and be a referral partner on a partnership project. However, you cannot hold your own grant and be a financial partner in another.
Can we apply for funding for a new project and funding to continue an existing project?
- No, organisations can only hold one grant at a time.
- If you wish to apply for funding for a different project* in place of your existing one, please get in touch and tell us what you plan to do: [email protected]
*Please note that you will need to go through the full application process for a new project, starting with the submission of an expression of interest.
What can’t be funded?
- Projects which are purely for counselling cannot be funded*.
- Projects which are solely for food provision. E.g. food banks and food pantries.
* If counselling is only a small aspect of a larger project and you can demonstrate that counselling is not available for your group elsewhere, your application may be considered.
Why can’t we apply for counselling?
- The Scottish Government has stated that projects should be focussed on early intervention and prevention activities rather than the delivery of therapies like counselling.
Why can’t we apply for food provision?
- While we recognise that the cost-of-living crisis is negatively impacting people’s ability to afford food and essentials, food banks and pantries do not fit with the criteria of this Fund.
We would like to run a community café – can this be considered when you aren’t funding food banks or pantries?
- Yes, if this is part of a wider project to support people’s mental health and wellbeing, rather than purely focusing on food provision.
Can we work with people under 16?
- No, this fund is only to support people aged 16+.
We are a national organisation, can we apply?
- Yes, you may apply if your annual turnover is less than £2million.
- Your project should be solely focused on delivery in the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership area.
- You will be required to evidence your locality focus, along with clear evidence of need built from engagement within the communities you plan to serve.
We are a branch of a national organisation, can we apply?
- Yes, you may apply if your annual turnover is less than £2million.
- Your branch must also have its own bank account and keep its own management accounts.
We’d like to run a citywide project – will this be considered?
- Yes, but you must be able to demonstrate the need for working across all localities, and how you will support people to access your activities
We would like to apply for funding towards a national project, can we apply?
- No, we will only accept applications for activity being solely delivered to residents of Edinburgh.
We are a small community group and don’t have a bank account or constitution, can we still apply?
- Yes – please get in touch with us to discuss your project before applying to discuss what support EVOC can provide: [email protected]
- If you don’t have a bank account, you might consider working with a ‘host’ organisation that can hold the funds on your behalf, but please get in touch to discuss this with us: [email protected]
Will we have to complete an application form after the Expression of Interest (EOI)?
- If your EOI is successful and you are offered funding, you will be required to provide more detailed information about your project in a Final Proposal.
When will we know the outcome of our application?
- We aim to ensure that all funding decisions are made in early 2025 and that all applicants are informed by the end of January 2025.
We are a registered company/CIC can we apply for funding?
- You may only apply if your company has a governance document which clearly states you have an asset lock in place.
- If your company is ‘for profit’ you are not eligible for funding.
We need a staff member to deliver our work, can we use this fund for staff costs?
- Yes you can. The Fund requires all grant recipients to take a Fair Work First Approach, therefore we require you to pay any funded staff member to be paid at least the real Living Wage.
- Please also ensure that you include other staff on-costs including employers pension contributions and employers National Insurance when budgeting for your project.
Can we include overheads in our application?
- Yes we advocate full cost recovery, so please ensure to include overheads/a management fee when budgeting to ensure that you contribute to other organisational costs such as utilities, admin support, management etc. We would recommend that any overhead/management fee is between 10-15% of your overall project budget, and certainly no more than 20% (although a fee this high should be the exception).
- Please remember your application should be no more than £20,000 and that we expect most grant awards to be made in the region of £10,000
