Nurturing Relationships - Small Grants Guidance

• For registered charities working in Scotland, with an annual income* of between £30,000 and £200,000, who are working to support nurturing relationships within families and communities, to help break the cycle between persistent poverty and intergenerational trauma, and support recovery.
• Offers unrestricted or restricted revenue funding* of between £5,000 and £20,000 per year, typically for three years, but may be considered in exceptional circumstances for up to five years.
• Open to applications from 27 November 2024, closing at noon on 24 January 2025.
• Decisions will be made and communicated by end-March 2025.

  *Definitions:

Annual Income: This is based on the money your organisation received in the last financial year, as shown in your most recent annual accounts. If you are a new organisation, which has not yet produced accounts, you can base this on the income you expect to bring in in the year ahead. As a general rule, we will only accept applications for Nurturing Relationships Small Grants from charities whose annual income is between £30,000 and £200,000. There are some cases where we will make exceptions, for example, if your income last year was less than £30,000 but you are growing your activities and projecting increased costs, or if your income was above £200,000 but mostly due to one-off income or exceptional reasons. We understand that organisations’ income may fluctuate from year to year and we’ll therefore look at up to your last three years’ income, as presented on OSCR. If you would like to be considered for a Nurturing Relationships Small Grant but you’re not sure if it’s right for your charity, please call us on 0141 353 4321 to discuss.

Revenue funding: is used to cover the costs of providing day-to-day services. We can provide revenue funding in two ways:

Unrestricted funding: can be spent on the annual running costs of your organisation, such as salaries, heating, lighting, administration, consumables and small items of equipment, such as laptops. We particularly welcome applications for unrestricted funding where the work of your organisation is purposely designed to address a priority described within one or more of our themes.  

Restricted funding: can only be used for a specific project, activity or designated purpose, as applied or identified and agreed with us as being aligned to a priority described within one or more of our themes. 

• Charities who are already in receipt of a Small or Large Grant from us, or revenue funding from our previous Open Grants programme (which closed in early 2020). The exception to this is if your current grant is due to end within the next 6 months. In this case, you can apply for Nurturing Relationships funding, however, if your application is successful, we would not release any funds before your existing grant ends and you’ve sent us your End of Grant Report.

The following types of organisation are not currently eligible for funding from us. However, we are committed to reviewing our guidance and criteria across the course of our strategy. To be kept informed, please sign up to our mailing list. 

• Housing Associations and Arm’s Length External Organisations (ALEOs - these are organisations which are formally separate from the local authority but still subject to its control or influence).
• Community Interest Companies (CICs). While Small Grants are not currently available to CICs, larger asset-locked CICs have been able to apply for Programme Awards via thematic open calls and, previously, Partners in Change. As our Social Impact Investing work opens, we envisage being able to offer affordable loans to some asset-locked CICs whose work is strongly aligned to our mission, via investment partners. We will also undertake a new review of how CICs working to prevent and reduce poverty and trauma could be eligible for grant funding, and share the findings by March 2025.

• A minimum of three unconnected Trustees on your charity’s Board. By unconnected we mean not related to each other; married or in a civil partnership with each other; in a relationship with each other or living together at the same address.
• Recent independently examined annual accounts. If your organisation is a newly registered charity which has not yet produced accounts, we’ll ask you to send us details of an independent referee, a recent bank statement and a projection showing your organisation’s expected income for its first year. We may also ask you to send us a copy of your most recent management accounts so that we can better understand your current financial position. 
• A safeguarding policy. If your organisation directly supports children and young people or vulnerable adults, we would expect you to have an appropriate policy document which sets out how you will keep them safe. Further information and resources can be found on the OSCR website here.

Through the work we fund under our Nurturing Relationships theme, we want to contribute to solutions which break the cycle between persistent poverty and intergenerational trauma, addressing the impacts of trauma within families, and for individuals facing severe and multiple disadvantage, where a significant aggravating factor is the experience of poverty.

The Independent Care Review told us ‘poverty is a mediating factor among various factors that increase the risk of child abuse and neglect.’ It also tells us ‘the stress of living in poverty can make family life harder – increasing anxiety and depression, damaging both mental and physical health.’ It states that: ‘Entry to the ‘care system’ has a social gradient: the more deprived a family is, the more likely that the children are placed on the child protection register or enter the ‘care system’. Poverty is neither a necessary nor a sufficient factor but it has revealed itself to be a contributory causal factor.’

Hard Edges Scotland established a statistical profile of the extent and nature of severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD) in Scotland. It tells us that poverty – especially where it is deep and persistent - is a significant background factor in the experience of SMD – which are defined as homelessness, substance dependency, and offending. There is also growing qualitative and quantitative evidence that childhood trauma lies behind adult SMD: ‘Most people interviewed for the study had had difficult early lives involving a range of ‘adverse childhood experiences’ (ACEs), including physical and/or sexual abuse, disrupted schooling and, in some cases, local authority care’.

Where the experience of poverty is persistent and chronic, people's abilities to cope can be worn down, they can be overwhelmed and not feel in in control of circumstances.  In these circumstances, persistent poverty can become a traumatic experience in itself. Additionally, because poverty is associated with increased insecurity, poverty can both increase the risks of experiencing trauma and decrease factors that can help protect people from traumatic impacts, increasing strain on individuals and on relationships. We want to see more connections being made between Nurturing Relationships and our other themes, particularly our Financial Security theme.

Tackling poverty on its own is not enough to break cycles of intergenerational trauma for everyone.  We know that nurturing relationships are crucial to reducing risks of experiencing trauma and supporting recovery from traumatic experiences. We believe that to break cycles of poverty and trauma we need to address the material and relational impacts of poverty and trauma together. Our themes and connections between them recognise that alongside financial security, education and work pathways, we need nurturing relationships. We recognise that part of strengthening relationships is reducing and removing material stressors. Equally, support with material aspects of poverty may have more impact where people and families are given holistic support to address trauma and enable them to thrive.

Through our Nurturing Relationships theme, we want to contribute to preventing and reducing poverty and trauma by funding work which addresses the following priorities:

1. Preventative support for families in poverty (including children and their caregivers), to help build and maintain strong family relationships, and reduce the risk of intergenerational trauma.

2. Whole family support for families (including children and their caregivers) in care, or on the edges of care, to address the impacts of persistent poverty and intergenerational trauma. We will also fund services for care experienced young people who are not in a family setting under this priority.

3. Crisis support at the point of family breakdown, including support for women and children experiencing domestic abuse. We particularly want to support:

- Services supporting families on low incomes, particularly in areas of deprivation, or remote and rural communities.

- Services which also provide support to build financial security.

- Services which provide whole family support.

4. Recovery and restorative approaches to address the impacts of childhood trauma, homelessness, substance misuse and/or offending.

If your work is focused on children and young people’s mental health or broader gender-based violence (rather than domestic abuse specifically), which were priorities under our previous Emotional Wellbeing & Relationships theme, please click here to read more about our shift in focus.

For examples of work we funded under our previous Emotional Wellbeing & Relationships theme, which we see as being strongly aligned with our new Nurturing Relationships priorities, please click here.

We particularly want to support work which provides earlier help in order to prevent or reduce the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes relating to poverty and trauma.

We can also fund work which:

• meets people’s immediate needs around poverty and trauma 
• tests new approaches or does more of what works.

Groups of people affected by poverty and trauma: We would like to fund work focusing on groups of people who experience higher rates of poverty and trauma, or who are at higher risk, than the population as a whole. We are focused on those groups in Scotland who are more likely to experience low incomes and restricted opportunities as a result. These groups include but are not limited to:

• Lone parent families
• Child poverty priority family groups (including larger families, families with young children, and young parent families)
• People experiencing severe or multiple disadvantage (e.g. due to homelessness, substance misuse and offending)
• Disabled people
• People and communities experiencing racial inequity
• Asylum seekers, refugees and those with no recourse to public funds
• Households claiming Universal Credit or related low-income social security benefits
• People with experience of the care system, on the edges of care or in kinship care
• Unpaid Carers
• Women at highest risk of facing poverty and trauma
• Young people (in most cases up to 25, or 30 for those with additional support needs)
• Older people at highest risk of facing poverty and trauma
• People living in deprived places, including rural or remote communities

We will also consider work which is not specifically aimed at these groups but which provides earlier help to prevent or reduce the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes relating to poverty and trauma, in line with our Nurturing Relationships priorities. Where targeting people on low incomes is difficult, such as in rural or remote areas, we would ask that you share evidence of the impact, or planned impact, of your work on preventing and reducing poverty and trauma for the people and place you serve.

• Revenue funding typically for three years, depending on your need or request. For exceptionally strong applications, we can consider up to five years’ funding for work which is most clearly and directly aligned to at least one of our funding priorities, and which is also recognised as leading or best practice. Please see our FAQs for applicants for further information.
• Revenue funding of between £5,000 and £20,000 per year. Please note that as we have a set budget for this initial open call, we expect to make a relatively small number of higher value awards. These will be for work which is most clearly and directly aligned to at least one of our funding priorities. For higher level awards, we are particularly interested in work which is preventative. In addition, we are interested in work which has clear potential to contribute to long-term change in addressing poverty and trauma at practice, organisational, community level. 
• If the primary focus of your organisation’s work is clearly and directly aligned to at least one of our funding priorities within Nurturing Relationships, we will consider unrestricted funding, which can be used to support any costs to help you further your work.
• Alternatively, we can consider restricted funding for a specific salary, project or service which addresses at least one of our funding priorities within Nurturing Relationships, including any associated equipment costs, such as laptops. We can consider fully funding a small project or part-time salary, or part-funding a larger project, service or full-time salary.
• You don’t need to have any match funding in place when you apply, but if we are not able to fund the total costs of your work, you will need to consider additional sources of funding. Our Funding Officer will discuss this with you during the assessment process.
• Due to the high level of demand for our funding, you can only apply for one Nurturing Relationships Grant. If you already hold a Small Grant under Our Funds, you can apply for Nurturing Relationships funding if you are in the final six months of your current grant. 

We’re happy to fund most costs, but there are certain costs and activities we will not consider supporting:

• Work which takes place outside Scotland
• Work which seeks to address forms of trauma which are not connected to experiences of poverty but are experienced across the general population – for example, trauma caused by a car accident, bereavement or illness.
• Funding for individuals (by this we mean we won’t provide funding which will primarily benefit only one or a very small group of individuals, although we could consider funding to provide support to individuals to help with the costs of essentials, as part of a broader request aligned with our priorities)
• Whilst we can and do provide funding to faith-based organisations delivering services and activities for the wider community, we cannot contribute towards projects and activities which incorporate the promotion of political or religious beliefs, or requests for salaried posts and volunteer costs where there is a requirement to be of a particular faith or none. This is because of the Trust’s commitment to support and enable equal access to activities, employment and volunteering opportunities, regardless of whether an individual is of a particular faith or none
• Feasibility studies or academic research
• Replacement of statutory revenue funding for mainstream playgroups and nurseries
• Standalone costs of childcare provision, although we may consider making a contribution towards childcare costs as part of a broader programme of family support, in line with our Nurturing Relationships priorities.
• Day care or residential care for older people 
• Standalone events or festivals – i.e. events that are not part of a larger programme of work relating to poverty and trauma
• Any retrospective costs already incurred by the applicant organisation
• Any costs not incurred by (or the salaries of staff not directly employed by) the applicant organisation.
• The salary costs of staff who are also Trustees/Directors on the applicant organisation’s Board.
• Capital costs such as building or renovation works, although, as above, we may consider small items of equipment as part of your revenue request. 

If any of the above costs make up a large part of your organisation’s annual expenditure, we will be more likely to restrict any grant we award you.

We consider a number of key criteria when assessing applications. As well as meeting the basic eligibility requirements, as outlined above, we want all organisations who apply to demonstrate how their work aims to prevent or reduce poverty and trauma, in line with our Nurturing Relationships funding priorities. This is the most important consideration for us and will influence our decision to fund and the level of funding that we are able to offer.

• Focus on preventing or reducing poverty and associated trauma: Organisations should show us that they recognise the challenges people in their community are facing in their lives related to our Nurturing Relationships priorities around poverty and trauma, as well as how their organisation’s work will respond to this and support them and, where possible, work to prevent the people they support having future experiences of poverty and trauma.

We also would like all organisations who apply for a Small Grant to demonstrate how they:

• Focus on community participation: by showing that they involve their community in the organisation, for example on the Board or through volunteering; and that they listen to their community and respond to their needs. By community, we mean either a geographic community or a community of interest (a group of people with shared characteristics and/or experiences). We are also interested to know how applicants include people from diverse communities (for example disabled people or people experiencing racial inequity) and remove barriers to their participation.
• Focus on collaboration: by showing that they are aware of other groups and services in their area, including those delivering related work, and are linked in with them, for example, through referrals, partnership working or participating in local networks.

Other criteria we consider include:

• The size of grant the applicant organisation is asking for, relative to its annual income – we try to be proportionate in how much we award.
• The organisation’s financial position, including its sustainability and whether it has an immediate need for our funds.
• How the organisation is governed.
• The duration and the scale of your work, for example delivered at local, regional or national levels, and the number of people it will support.

Our Nurturing Relationships Small Grants are open to applications from Wednesday 27^th November 2024 until 12 noon on Friday 24^th January 2025. Please note that we cannot accept applications after this time.

You can download a copy of our application questions and help text here. 

Please complete the online application form. Within the form, we will ask you to upload: 

• A copy of your most recent independently examined annual accounts.
• If you are a newly registered charity and have not yet produced accounts, we will ask you to provide details of an independent referee (someone who knows your work well but is not directly involved in it), a recent bank statement and a projection showing your organisation’s expected income for its first year.
• A budget detailing the costs of your work, including any other funding secured or projected towards these. We ask that you use our budget template (linked within the application form) to provide this information.
• If you are applying for a contribution towards salary costs, please provide a job description for the post, including contracted hours per week and salary scale.

• We’ll email you to confirm we’ve got your application.
• We’ll tell you the outcome of your application by end-March 2025. This is dependent on receiving any additional information we may ask for – delays in receiving this extra information could mean we are unable to progress your application to a decision. If we receive higher than anticipated numbers of applications to this Fund, we may have to extend our timeframe for decision-making, in which case, we’ll aim to give applicants early notice of any delay.
• We’ll send all correspondence about your application via email, so it’s important that the email addresses and contact details you provide in your application are correct. We’ll normally contact the person you’ve listed as the ‘application contact’ in the first instance, so it’s helpful if this person is available during the assessment period. Please let us know if there are any changes to the contact details provided.
• We’ll assign one of our Funding Officers to assess your application. They may get in touch with you during the assessment period and will be able to help you with any changes or updates you might need to make to your application.

If we award you funding:

• We’ll email you to let you know. Before we can pay your funds, we’ll ask you to provide a copy of a recent bank statement for your organisation’s account (within the last three months).
• We may also ask you to complete certain actions before we can pay your funds. This is more likely to be the case for restricted awards rather than unrestricted. For example, we might ask you to provide evidence of other funding or let us know when a new postholder has been appointed.
• Once we have the information we’ve asked for, we’ll do our best to pay the funds to your organisation’s bank account within two weeks.
• We’ll ask that you send us a brief report at the end of each grant year telling us about your progress, the differences or outcomes your work has contributed to making for the people and communities you support, and what has helped to make those differences. We may use information from your report to highlight stories and case studies used as part of our Communications work. We may also request to visit you or speak to you on the phone to find out how you’re getting on and whether you need any additional support from us.
• As you approach the end of your grant, we know you may be thinking about further funding. As this first opening of our Nurturing Relationships Fund is time-limited, we’ll discuss opportunities for continued funding with all awardees on an individual basis.

Take a look at the Support for grant holders section.

If we do not award you funding:

• We’ll send you an email in which we’ll try our best to explain why we’ve not awarded you funding. In some cases, this may come down to the available budget for this Open Call and the number of applications we receive. We’ll also advise on when you can reapply for funding. There will be more opportunities to apply for Nurturing Relationships funding in the new financial year.
• If you would like to have a chat with us about our decision, you can email us on funding@therobertsontrust.org.uk and your Funding Officer will aim to get back to you within five working days.