On this page, you will find guidance for Year 4 of the Edinburgh Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund.
Purpose of the Fund
The aim of the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is to provide grants for grassroots community activity which improves the mental health and wellbeing of people aged 16+ living in Edinburgh through early intervention and prevention approaches. The priorities of the Fund set by the Scottish Government which projects must address are:
- Reduce social isolation and loneliness
- Suicide Prevention
- Address poverty and inequality
Since Year 1, Edinburgh has implemented a community commissioning process that differs from standard funding applications. This approach operates differently from a ‘standard’ funding application process and aims to foster collaboration, support holistic services for Edinburgh residents, and actively involve the community in decision-making. Organisations must demonstrate how they have involved people with lived experience in the design and planning of their projects.
Please note that the Edinburgh Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund cannot fund counselling, other similar therapies or direct food provision such as foodbanks or food pantries.
Who can apply?
The Fund is open to charitable and not-for-profit organisations with an annual turnover of £2million or under providing services in Edinburgh.
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 group
- Parent Councils (subject to conditions)
- Un-constituted Groups*
If your organisation has a turnover of over £1million you will be subject to additional checks.
*If you are an un-constituted group, we will consider funding you with support to become constituted or by supporting an application with a constituted ‘host organisation’ who can hold the grant on your behalf. If this applies to you, please get in touch to chat about how we can help you: [email protected]
Current Grant Holders
If your organisation currently holds a grant we have already been in touch by email to let you know about what to expect.
If your project has been funded since year one (April 2022 – March 2023) you must take part in the wider community commissioning process.
Organisations that have been funded in years two and three (April 2023 – March 2024 and April 2024 -March 2025) who wish to continue existing work have a separate expression of interest form.
How much can we apply for?
Single applications can be submitted for grants of up to £20,000 for projects lasting between 12 and 18 months.
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.
We strongly encourage collaborative approaches to project delivery.
If you are applying as part of a partnership, the maximum grant amount still applies to each organisation. However, 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.
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.
How do we apply?
Phase 1
The ECMHWF will open to Expressions of Interest (EOIs) on Wed 11 Sep 2024.
The expression of interest is a short online form to give us an idea of what you might like funding for, how much and how we can best support you to explore collaboration opportunities at the event on Tue 22 Oct 2024.
You will be asked to complete a criteria check, tell us how much money you think you might need, provide 100 words about what you would like to do and a little information about how you know this work is needed.
All organisations who fit the basic criteria and who submit an expression of interest will be eligible to attend the collaboration event at Norton Park on Tue 22 Oct 2024 – unless notified otherwise.
Phase 2
After the collaboration events on Tue 22 Oct 2024, the Fund will open to Final Proposals. At this point you will be asked to provide additional information about your EOI or you will have the change to develop your idea.
What is community commissioning?
Community commissioning is a form of participatory grant-making focussed on developing consensus about the needs of a locality or group of people, and ultimately informing and deciding how funding should be spent.
EVOC has taken a community commissioning approach to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund since its first year with the aim of shifting the balance of power to create a more equitable and holistic distribution of funds. Both people living in Edinburgh and those involved in delivering services in the city are involved in deciding how the funding is spent.
Our aim is that where possible applicant groups find ways of collaborating to create the best possible outcomes for the mental health and wellbeing of people living in Edinburgh.
To enable this, we host two events as follows.
Collaboration Event 1:
- This event will be hosted on Tue 22 Oct 2024 at Norton Park Conference Centre.
- The aim of the event is for organisations to discuss their proposed project with other organisations in their locality or community of interest and aim to find opportunities for collaboration where possible.
- We aim to encourage organisations to collaborate to provide the best possible range of services and support for people living in Edinburgh.
- After this event the fund will open to final proposals so organisations can submit updated proposals based on the discussions and collaborative opportunities identified.
This has been a learning experience for EVOC and the third sector and while we aim to have collaborative decision-making on Fund spend, this has been a challenging shift. Therefore, we have a Locality Advisory Team who are our ‘backup’ and make final decisions, taking into consideration the discussions at the two events, needs identified and a reasonable spread of funds across communities (of place and interest).
