Background
The Direct Grants Programme
is receiving financial support from the Scottish ESF Objective 3
Programme (Global Grants stream), Communities Scotland and the
Scottish Enterprise Network.
Direct Grants are managed
and administered by SCVO.
The programme has been set
up to help small groups promote employability and combat
exclusion by supporting new ideas which enhance social
cohesion, community enterprise and local networking in their area.
Direct Grants are
revenue grants for locally-based voluntary and community
organisations in the Scottish ESF Objective 3 Programme area (see
map) that have previously been unable to access mainstream
funding (see
guidance note 2).
Project types
which Direct Grants may support
The Direct Grants Programme
will support initiatives targeting the needs of excluded individuals
and communities.
The Direct Grants programme
will support projects which constitute a new activity for a
voluntary or community group, or a community co-operative enterprise.
The list below gives
examples of the types of project Direct Grants may support. It is not
meant to be prescriptive.
-
Projects that
enhance local networking such as locality studies, social audits,
community learning programmes, community profiling, project-specific
feasibility studies
-
Projects that
increase social cohesion such as food co-ops or development of
infrastructure bodies such as a village hall development group. In
addition, capacity building initiatives, community forums, self help
groups and youth projects could all fall within this category;
-
Projects that develop community
enterprise. To qualify, a project under this heading will need to be
a not-for-profit community based enterprise and the activity must
not have started operation prior to grant approval. Any community
business or other community or co-operative must be a new start up
with no history of previous trading or commercial activity.
Projects linked to employment and the development of co-operative
business may be supported by the fund.
Application
Procedure
Direct Grants are managed
and administered by SCVO.
Applications are available
from SCVO or contractors* and
should be submitted to SCVO.
Applicants will receive an acknowledgement which will indicate the
current timescale for decisions (normally about 2 months).
SCVO is responsible for
carrying out initial completeness and eligibility checks but does not
make recommendations.
The relevant Local
Selection Group (LSG) considers all applications.
LSG members
have been invited to
participate in the application appraisal process on the basis of their
knowledge of the area, local needs and current activity in the
voluntary and community sector. Various statutory organisations and
agencies have been invited to join the LSGs but in all instances the
voluntary and community sector retains a majority presence.
Recommendations made by the
LSG members will be endorsed by the Programme Network. SCVO will then
inform the applicant in writing of the decision.
Six LSG’s have been established: Scottish Borders, Dumfries and
Galloway, West of Scotland, Lothians and Forth Valley, Fife and
Tayside and Grampian.
Data protection statement
The information you provide in
your application form will be considered as a public document and may
be published on the direct grants web pages
(www.scvo.org.uk/direct_grants).
The complete form will be electronically distributed to members of the
Local Selection Group.
The information from your application form and contact details from
any inquiry may also be passed to local partners as part of ongoing
project development, support and evaluation. We shall not use the
database generated from application and inquiry information for any
other purpose.
We will at all times seek to comply with the principles of data
protection and therefore would ask that you keep us informed of any
significant changes in order that we can ensure retained information
is accurate.
Any financial information supplied subsequent to application approval,
will be retained on a separate file and will not be disclosed to third
parties other than for the purposed of audit verification.
By completing an application form you will be consenting to have the
details published on relevant Web Sites and being made publicly
available. We are unable to accept applications without this consent.
Further Support
*Groups in
the Glasgow City area, Grampian and the South of Scotland should note:
Direct Grants support for groups in Glasgow
City area
SCVO has contracted with Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS)
to support groups wishing to make an application to Direct Grants. For
Direct Grants information and support please contact:
Simon Berry
Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector
11 Queen's Crescent
Glasgow
G4 9AS
Tel. 0141 332 2444
Email:
Simon.Berry@gcvs.org.uk
Direct Grants support for groups in Grampian
SCVO has contracted with Aberdeen Council for Voluntary Organisations
(ACVO) to support groups wishing to make an application to Direct
Grants. For Direct Grants information and support please contact:
Anne Sobey
Aberdeen Council for Voluntary Organisations
38 Castle Street
Aberdeen
AB11 5YU
Tel. 01224 212021
Email:
anne.sobey@btinternet.com
Direct Grants support for groups in the
Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway
SCVO has contracted with Borders Forum of CVS to support groups in the
South of Scotland wishing to make an application to Direct Grants.
For Direct Grants information and support please contact:
Heather Batsch
Roxburgh Association of Voluntary Service
1 Veitch's Close
Castlegate
Jedburgh
TD8 6AY
Tel. 01835 863554
Email: ravs@scvo.org.uk
Further information
including full eligibility criteria, notes on completing your
application and the application form can be found at
Guidance & Application
form.
The Direct Grants team is based in SCVO’s
West of Scotland Office.
You can contact us at:
SCVO, Centrum Office Centre, 38 Queen
Street, Glasgow, G1 3DX
Telephone: 0141 221 0030 – Fax 0141 248 8066
Email:
directgrants@scvo.org.uk |
