Learning from our Transport Grants

Transport Grants opened to applications in September this year, as the successor to our previous Community Vehicle Grants, from which we gathered learning to develop this new Fund.

The Fund aims to support the transport needs of charities who are working to prevent and reduce poverty and trauma in Scotland. You can read our full guidance here.

At our November decision meeting, we awarded 5 Transport Grants totalling £67,500. Amongst the awardees were Local Energy Action Plan and Furniture Plus:

• Local Energy Action Plan (LEAP) - £16,000
  Towards the LEAP Shared Transport Project
  Serving the communities of Linwood and Lochwinnoch, the LEAP Shared Transport Project provides access to low-cost, zero-emissions vehicles through a car club and e-bike hire. The project helps remove financial and access barriers to sustainable transport for people living in communities experiencing (rural) deprivation, which can be used for journeys crucial for employment, education and social inclusion. The vehicles are also used to support LEAP’s Larder project, providing dignified access to food for those experiencing food insecurity.
• Furniture Plus - £18,000
  Towards the costs of the electric van and driver's salary
  Furniture Plus is a Kirkcaldy-based charity that provides free or affordable furniture, white goods and starter packs to support people starting a new tenancy and families on low incomes. They also provide training and volunteering opportunities for people experiencing long-term unemployment. The van will be used to support the delivery of their services, enabling them to cut waiting times and offer same-day delivery in response to urgent requests, including, for example, for families fleeing domestic abuse and moving into a new tenancy.

Success Rate

Transport Grants had a success rate of 38% at our November Meeting. This is much lower than our average success rate for our previous Community Vehicle Grants, which was 75% during FY23/24. We expect the low success rate was down to a few factors, including a high demand for funding and pressure on our budget for the remainder of this financial year, as well as this being a new fund where we recognise there is more we can do to ensure our guidance and communications for applicants are clear.

We hope this blog will be helpful in illustrating the types of services we will and won’t support through Transport Grants.

Unsuccessful applications

The main reason applications to this fund were unsuccessful at our November meeting was because they did not demonstrate a strong fit with the aims of the fund, either because they were not delivering work which is aligned with one of our themes, or because they were not focused on removing transport barriers for people and places with higher rates or risks of experiencing poverty (and trauma).

We saw some common themes in the applications that were unsuccessful:

• Sport for Change

We considered applications from sports groups who need transport to take participants to and from their activities and competitions. We were unable to support them, as the main focus of their work was on participation in sport. Whilst we will fund transport to support sports activity, we are only able to do this where the applicant organisation is taking a Sport for Change approach. This means that they are using sport or physical activity as a means to bring about wider social outcomes for participants. For us, we are interested in Sport for Change where these wider social outcomes relate to preventing or reducing poverty and trauma, in line with our strategy.

We were pleased to award a Transport Grant to Carrick Rugby Football Club, to support the transport costs of its diversionary rugby sessions for young people. The sessions are delivered on Friday nights with the aim of providing a positive activity for young people and involve a focus on personal development, alongside playing rugby. The club provides free transport to young people living in rural and deprived communities, removing the barrier of cost for participants.

• Reducing Social Isolation

We considered applications from organisations working with older people, disabled people or those with mobility issues where the primary focus of their work was on reducing social isolation. Whilst disabled people and some groups of older people experience higher rates or are at higher risk of poverty (and trauma), we know that not all people in these groups do experience these issues. In our applicant guidance, we ask organisations to tell us in their application forms about the issues the people they support are experiencing related to poverty (and trauma), and how their work responds to this.

We are interested in funding Transport Grants where there is a clear link to one of our funding themes – Financial Security, Education Pathways,Work Pathways or Nurturing Relationships (NEW) - or where it is clear how funding will help remove transport barriers for people affected by poverty (and trauma). We won’t provide Transport Grants to support work which is focused primarily on reducing social isolation.

Whilst we didn’t make any Transport Grants to organisations working specifically with older or disabled people at our November Decision meeting, here are two previous Community Vehicle awards which we feel align well with the aims of our new fund:

• Elder Voice (Strathmore & The Glens) – awarded a £5K Community Vehicle Grant last year towards the capital costs of a new van, which would be used to support their food/hot meal delivery service for older people on low incomes who are experiencing food insecurity.
• Aberdeen Day Project – Organisation which provides employment and training opportunities for adults with learning difficulties. They were awarded a £7.5K grant towards the costs of purchasing a new van to support the delivery of their work and grow their services to include home deliveries.

Public Transport Costs for Participants

Since launching this fund, we’ve had a number of queries from charities asking if we could consider funding the costs of public transport for their participants, such as bus passes, either to enable them to attend their services or to access other support and activities in the community. Whilst we recognise that using public transport is often a sustainable choice, and that the cost of public transport often presents a barrier for people experiencing poverty (and trauma), we are unable to consider funding these costs at this early stage of our Transport Grants fund. This is because of the high level of demand for our funding, and the pressure this would place on our budget. We would, however, encourage any organisations applying for a Small or Large Grant towards their running costs to include this type of expense in their full organisational budget. We may be able to consider making a contribution towards this, as part of any award we make.