The countdown is on! On November 26, we are set to open our new funding opportunities to application. We’ve designed these to be as flexible as possible, able to respond to change and the shifting environment in Scotland. We are currently finalising details and we’re excited to be so close to opening it up.

We know that sometimes those we fund need more than just money so, we’ve been thinking about how we can offer additional support to organisations we’re working with.

We want to empower communities to use our resources, as well as their own, to help shape the support that will work best for them. So we’re proposing to deliver support through a variety of means including:

• Case studies and examples of best practice
• Signposting to expert advice and resources
• workshops and web based information and advice
• Support contracts providing additional support Peer to peer support through events and the Big Online Community

Our intention is these support methods blend to provide the best support available and giving a greater degree of choice. It’ll help to embed our three approaches (people led, strengths based and connected) and to address areas where we think we could do better  such as earlier  support for capital activity.

For example, an organisation could receive initial support from a member of our staff member on self-evaluation; they may then receive support from one of our contractors, or request funding to access support or join a programme delivered by another support organisation. Alongside this they could choose to access case studies and engage with other grant holders on the online community. Later in the funding cycle they may wish to provide support to their peers.

We think it’s a win/win…and as an organisation we’ll be able to consider how all this support helps to ensure that people and communities in greatest need are stronger, more resilient and better able to deliver for the people important to them.

It won’t all happen at once.  But we think it’s important to know that this is central to our work over the next five years.

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