Open Grants Programme

The Open Grants Programme has now closed for applications, with a final Grants Panel meeting to be held on 12 March 2003. The launch of the Transforming your Space grant programme by Fresh Futures on 4 February 2003 has meant that the Open Grant Programme has closed one round earlier than previously planned - however, the impacts of this on potential aplicants should be very small as Transforming your Space will cover much of what was previously eligible. Two exceptions are waste, which will be covered by the Transforming Waste Scotland programme, and energy, which Fresh Futures will no longer be able to support. If you have an energy project for which you had intended applying for funding to Fresh Futures, please call the team on 0141 222 5630.

Further information on Transforming your Space will be added shortly. For information on the launch of this programme, please see the latestnews page.

A record of the operation of the original Open Grant Programme can be found below:

Jointly managed by SNH and Forward Scotland, this programme offers funding under the green spaces and waste, energy & travel themes. As the name would suggest, the Open Grants Programme is an open application fund. There are few restrictions on who can apply, but the fund is targetted at community benefit. We therefore welcome applications from community councils, housing associations, etc., without excluding other organisations such as local authorities who are planning projects which involve and benefit the local community where the project is located. Our two Grants Officers, Hannah and Celaen, are able to offer assistance to groups in developing their applications, and give guidance on eligibility and programme priorities.

Your application to the programme will be assessed by one of the Grants Officers before being passed for decision to our independent Grants Panel. The Panel meets on a quarterly cycle, and there are deadline dates for receipt of applications.

A total of £826,000 is available over the 2 years of the programme, and we are profiling the budget over the eight Grants Panel meetings such that there will be funding available in Rounds 7 and 8 - you don't need to rush to get an application in at the expense of properly developing your ideas! Speak to us early on - we are here to try and help in any way we can.

Our grants range from £3,000 to £50,000, with an average between of £20,000. Exceptionally a greenspace project can claim up to £100,000, but this would be exceptional.

We do look for partnership funding, although we don't have a fixed rate for every project we fund - to date we have funded between 7% and 63% of the total value of a project (which includes in-kind support). What we expect is for you to explore the potential for partnership funding, and this will depend on what your project is to do. This can be a tricky area - good luck!