Foundation Scotland was ready to react to the coronavirus crisis as early as the end of March and since then they have had a doubling in the number of requests to their Response, Recovery and Resilience Fund.
In Edinburgh the community foundation has given £616,246 to 152 projects including local organisations such as Open Door Accommodation Project, Brock Garden Centre SCIO, Edinburgh Women’s Aid and Bikes for Refugees.
Edinburgh-based Street Fit Scotland received £5,000 to provide digital devices, online fitness classes and peer support sessions to 30 local people to help reduce isolation, self-harmful behaviours and suicide risk whilst supporting their mental and physical well-being. Michelle Reilly, Founder, Street Fit Scotland said “This life-changing award could not have come at a better time for Street Fit Scotland. Thanks to Foundation Scotland we are now able to deliver free outdoor fitness sessions in the Edinburgh meadows to support the homeless community and others to re-engage back into society supporting them to get fit active and healthy. This is a great opportunity giving people the chance to recover from periods of isolation. All or sessions are socially distanced, and we have created the safest environment we can following all government guidance.”
Foundation Scotland distributes charitable funds on behalf of over 400 individuals, families, companies, public bodies and charitable trusts including this key partnership with NET. The foundation manages over 120 funding programmes and has distributed £100m to the third sector since its launch in 1996.
Helen Wray, Programme Manager at Foundation Scotland said “We could see the impact that COVID was going to have and we knew we needed to move extremely quickly so that we could continue to deliver reliable financial support to groups delivering essential services across the country. Fortunately, our partnership with NET meant we were able to respond immediately and could open and offer new funding opportunities. At the same time, we have kept all of our other important funding streams open as normal. We are working relentlessly to get support to where it is needed most through this challenging time. Since April this year, we have assessed the same volume of applications as we did through the entirety of 2019.
We appreciate that funding is becoming harder to secure and demand for essential services is often higher than ever before. So we are delighted that due to an increase in funding from NET, we are able to continue to offer these essential awards to allow groups to apply for support where they need it most. We are however encouraging groups to apply as soon as they can.”
The fund has grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 available to constituted community groups and registered charities. It is still in its recovery phase supporting these bodies to plan ahead and continue operating.
Foundation Scotland is eager to distribute funds quickly to communities in need and is appealing to eligible groups to apply quickly as they respond and recover from the crisis.
For more details, eligibility criteria and to apply online visit https://www.foundationscotland.org.uk/
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