Local fund reaches £1 million milestone
The Glenkens & District Trust, working in partnership with Foundation Scotland, is delighted to announce that the Blackcraig Community Fund has now paid out £1 million since the Fund launched in 2019, supporting projects across the Glenkens and district area.
Since the Fund launched, over 119 organisations have been supported through the main grant making fund right across the area of benefit, and £110,000 in total has gone to the Community Councils in the area enabling them to make small onward grants to benefit their local community. The Fund has also been instrumental in catalysing an area-wide community action planning process and seeing this move from aspiration and ideas into the active delivery of projects, overseen by a local Community Action Planning steering group.
In the latest main grant funding round this month the Glenkens & District Trustees agreed to award just under £62,000 to four projects which will provide benefits right across the area:
£15,000 was awarded to Moniaive Playcare to restart the afterschool care service;
£25,000 core costs for local community anchor organisation the Glenkens & Community Arts Trust, which operates community led services and activities across eight communities in the Glenkens;
£8,176 was awarded to the locally renowned natural voice choir Cairn Chorus to commission and deliver ‘Galloway Sang Streams’, a new song cycle with the theme of connecting people to the land, in the context of the climate crisis;
and finally an award of £8,398 over three years went to Dragon Boats on Loch Ken, which provides social health and wellbeing benefits through its paddling activities on Loch Ken.
Fiona Smith, Glenkens & District Trust Chair, said:
“We’re absolutely delighted that the Fund has reached this significant milestone of £1 million paid out to support local projects, large and small. GDT strongly believes in the power of communities being in control of local funding, supported by good governance and community action planning guiding our spending priorities.”
Suzy Mercer, Community Funds Manager at Foundation Scotland, said:
“As a grant making charity with expertise in community benefit, Foundation Scotland has been delighted to work in partnership with GDT since the Fund was established in 2019. The combination of our respective strengths has proved a successful recipe for the Fund and the communities involved.”
Since the Fund commenced in 2019, it has provided a vital source of funds to the Glenkens & District community, supporting projects and organisations across a broad range of spectrums. Grants are available of £500 to £75,000. As the Fund moves into 2024, some changes are afoot with the Fund now being known as the Glenkens & District Community Fund as the number of donors increases. The Fund priorities stay the same.
Congratulations to all the successful applicants who have helped reach this one millionth pound mark, this could not have been achieved without you! For more information on the fund visit https://www.glenkenstrust.org.uk/funding.
The deadline for the next round of funding for community organisations is the 18th of March 2024; more information can be found here - https://www.foundationscotland.org.uk/apply-for-funding/funding-available/glenkens.