Foundation Scotland celebrates 25th anniversary & £130m distributed to date
Melanie May | 30 November 2021 | News
Foundation Scotland, Scotland’s community foundation, is marking its silver anniversary today – St Andrews Day as well as Giving Tuesday.
Established in 1996, the funder has distributed more than £130 million to charitable organisations, social enterprises, and community groups operating across Scotland in the past 25 years.
In a typical year, Foundation Scotland supports an average of 2,000 charitable projects and services across the country, from local food banks to counselling services, to youth groups and education and training funds. From an initial group of three staff, the foundation now has over 30 managing around 100 different national and local funding programmes each year.
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Earlier this year the foundation began offering investment for social enterprises following an integration with Resilient Scotland, expanding the breadth of financial support offered to charitable groups and enterprises nationwide.
Some organisations and projects have received ongoing support from Foundation Scotland for many years, and can be eligible for more than one source of funding.
The Linwood Community Development Trust (LCDT) in Linwood has received £310,000 in support from Foundation Scotland across the last nine years. Formed by a group of volunteers from the local community, LCDT set up with a mission to improve the health and wellbeing and reduce social inequalities within their area. The largest award was from the Foundation’s Scotland’s social investment team which enabled the building of a 3G football pitch and community building.
Kirsty Flannigan, Community Programme Manager at Linwood Community Development Trust said:
“It is of vital importance for communities, like Linwood, to have Foundation Scotland as a funding partner. When we formed 10 years ago, little did we know of the journey that lay ahead of us. Foundation Scotland believed in our vision, when many others did not. Their support at that time was vital to enable us as an organisation to create the initial business plan to get our project started. Also to be given the support to learn and develop skills to enable us to deliver on our vision for the community.
“With their support we know we can continue to create and develop long term sustainable facilities and projects, which deliver tangible and effective support to local people and our wider community.”
An independent charity, the funds awarded come from donors who support the foundation’s work. Funds come in all shapes and sizes, some supporting a particular place, some supporting specific themes such as education, health or inequalities. The breadth of donors includes individuals, families, companies, community bodies and other charities who work with the foundation to set up or manage charitable funds. The foundation connects donors funds with community organisations working on the ground, ensuring their support stays relevant to local circumstances and delivers real impact.
New donors have continued to come on board throughout the pandemic, with new funds opening to help support communities through the crisis. In March 2020, Foundation Scotland was chosen by the National Emergencies Trust to distribute over £7.3 million in emergency funding across Scotland.
More recently, Foundation Scotland launched the CalMac Community Fund on behalf of Caledonian MacBrayne and the PHP Community Impact Fund on behalf of Primary Health Properties.
The recent growth in onshore wind farms across Scotland has also enabled the investment of over £4 million in community benefit funds over the past year into communities where wind farms are located. Foundation Scotland works with renewable energy companies in Scotland to distribute the benefit funds in partnership with local community councils and panels.
Giles Ruck, Chief Executive at Foundation Scotland, said:
“We are proud to be Scotland’s community foundation. For 25 years, we’ve maintained the vision of supporting confident, thriving, resilient communities across Scotland. And for every community to thrive, it should be resourced to match its vision and powered by transformative funding. That’s where we come in. Over the last quarter of a century, we have connected the generosity of donors, corporates and individuals, to enable and empower vital projects and grassroot-led change.
“As we look ahead, Foundation Scotland remains dedicated to supporting incredible local groups operating in the heart of communities. We will continue to work hard to reach and connect with new donors keen to distribute funds effectively at a local level so that together we can continue to deliver extraordinary support.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.