Learning from our Wee Grants

Wee Grants re-opened in September last year, after a pause over the summer months across our Funds.

During this period, we closed to new applications to make some changes to Wee Grants, including increasing the potential maximum funding available from £2,000 to £5,000.  We also reviewed the focus of our Funds, to ensure that the work we fund aligns with our strategy and mission, which is to prevent and reduce poverty and trauma in Scotland.

In our first decision meetings since September, we have awarded 90 Wee Grants totalling £247,250. Amongst the awardees were:

• Tummies not Trash, an Edinburgh-based charity which redistributes surplus food to families and individuals who are struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis, received a £5K award towards their running costs.
• Nurture Scotland, a charity based in North Lanarkshire which provides information, advice and support to kinship care families, received a £4K award towards their running costs.
• Cambuslang Youth Committee, a community group based in South Lanarkshire delivering workshops to help young people re-engage with education, or to transition from primary to secondary school, received a £3K award towards their project costs.
• Active Sports for All, a charity based in rural South Lanarkshire which provides training, mentoring and employment opportunities through the delivery of sport and physical activity, with a focus on children and young people from disadvantaged areas, disabled people and girls, received a £5K award towards their running costs.

Success Rate

The average success rate for Wee Grants since we re-opened to applications is 59%. This is much lower than our previous average success rate, which was 85% during 2023/24.  We expect the low success rate is down to a few factors, including:

• Increased demand across all our Funds and resulting pressure on our budget for the remainder of this financial year;
• The sharper focus we have introduced across our Funds, which means there are some services and activities we previously supported, which are no longer as strongly aligned to our mission. This is particularly relevant for Wee Grants, as most of our grants awarded before September 2024 were funded through our Emotional Wellbeing and Relationships theme, which was broad in nature and included work aimed at addressing social isolation or improving health and wellbeing.  Our new Nurturing Relationships theme, which replaces Emotional Wellbeing and Relationships, has a sharper focus.  It is aimed at supporting nurturing relationships within families and communities to help break the cycle between persistent poverty and intergenerational trauma. 

Unsuccessful Applications

The main reason why Wee Grants applications were unsuccessful since we re-opened is 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 four funding themes (Financial Security, Nurturing Relationships, Education Pathways or Work Pathways), or because they did not focus on supporting people and places with higher rates or risks of experiencing poverty (and trauma).

Specifically, many of the applications which were unsuccessful were focused primarily on reducing social isolation and improving mental wellbeing. We can consider funding work which has these aims, but only where it is clearly focused on people or places experiencing or at higher risk of experiencing poverty and trauma.  We are focused on trauma specifically where it is connected to poverty, sometimes referred to as poverty-related trauma (trauma that is made more likely due to the experience of poverty). We know, however, that many people who experience poverty won’t also have experience of trauma, so we will fund work which is about addressing poverty on its own. 

It is important that you tell us about the issues faced by the people or community you support, relating to poverty (and trauma).  For example, does the community in which you operate have high levels of deprivation; do you support people who are at higher risk of experiencing poverty, such as asylum seekers, unpaid carers, disabled people or people experiencing racial inequity?  How does your work respond to and address the issues faced by the people or community you support?

We have updated our guidance and our application form to provide space for applicants to tell us about the challenges their community is facing relating to poverty (and trauma) and how their work responds to these.

Here are some examples of projects focused on supporting people and places with higher rates or risks of experiencing poverty (and trauma), which we are pleased to be funding through Wee Grants:

• Fraserburgh & District Men’s Shed is based in rural Aberdeenshire and provides opportunities for older men to come together, learn new skills and work on projects for the local community. Many of their members are on low incomes, unemployed or disabled. Their activities include DIY projects, repairing or creating items for local organisations and regular Confidence to Cook courses. They received a Wee Grant of £3K to create a new workshop area, which will enable them to deliver a range of new, free classes for members.
• Alloa Boxing Club is based in an area with high levels of deprivation and provides a weekly programme of affordable classes for local people, with a strong focus on children and young people. The club provides them with positive activities and role models, and can provide equipment to ensure cost is not a barrier to participation. They received a Wee Grant of £3K towards running costs.
• Cousland Village Hall is based in rural Midlothian and provides a range of services for local people including a community café, a warm space providing hot food during the winter months, community events and space for local other local groups including those delivering activities for children. They received a Wee Grant of £3K towards running costs.
• Oromo Community Scotland is based in Glasgow and provides support to asylum seekers and refugees within the community through sport, after-school activities, and networking events. They received a Wee Grant of £3K towards running costs.