Issue 1/11

Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland is a grant-making trust distributing funds to registered charities. Our aim is to support and work in partnership with charities operating in Scotland which are clearly focused on improving the quality of life for people who are disadvantaged or at risk of becoming disadvantaged.

These are difficult times for many of Scotland’s charities.

Some are finding it increasingly difficult to access funds from public-sector agencies, such as local authorities.

In our most recent round of grant awards, we received and assessed a total of 67 applications for funds, a lower number than for previous February awards. We fear that this may be because many charities are unsure about the effects of local authority funding cuts, and are in a state of limbo until they get some clarity.

We hope this doesn’t hold charities back from seeking our help, and would urge as many as possible to consider applying to us for funding.

Seeking help from the Foundation is not difficult. Surgeries held throughout the country are designed to explain the application process and make it as straightforward as possible.

This newsletter gives details of the dates and venues of our forthcoming surgeries, and much more besides.

We’d urge you to read it – and note that, after an unforeseen hiatus last year, the Foundation is back in the business of helping Scotland’s charities.

The Foundation makes awards through a number of routes:

• Henry Duncan Awards focus on local charities working at grassroots level. This programme was put in place in 2010 to mark the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the first ever savings bank by the Rev Henry Duncan, which lead to the formation of the Foundation.



• Capacity Building Grants help charities review how well they are performing and put in place improvements.



• The Partnership Drugs Initiative targets children and young people in families in which parents misuse drugs or alcohol, pre-teen children who are at risk of developing problems with substance misuse and young people who are developing or who have established problems with substance misuse. This programme is a partnership between the Foundation and the Scottish Government.


Full details of the Foundation's criteria is available on our website.

The next closing date for Henry Duncan Awards is May 16th for consideration at our August board meeting

As part of its ongoing commitment to investing in the Scottish community, Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland holds a series of surgeries for registered charities interested in applying for funding.

The surgery is an opportunity for charities to have a one-to-one session with one of our assessors, and to discuss how they can go about putting an application to the Foundation

Charities wishing to find out more about our grants and how to apply can attend one of the surgeries detailed below.

Please call 0131 444 4020 to arrange an appointment at a surgery.

April 2011
Edinburgh, Monday, 4th April
Aberdeen, Wednesday, 13th April
Glasgow, Monday, 18th April
Stornoway, Tuesday, 19th April

May 2011
Edinburgh, Wednesday, 4th May
Glasgow, Monday, 6th May
Lochgilphead, Tuesday, 17th May
Dundee, Tuesday, 31st May

June 2011
Falkirk, Monday, 6th June
Fort William, Tuesday, 7th June
Hawick, Wednesday, 15th June
Bellshill, Tuesday, 21st June

July 2011
Edinburgh, Monday, 4th July
Glasgow, Tuesday, 12th July
Banff, Tuesday, 26th July

August 2011
Kilmarnock, Wednesday, 3rd August
Edinburgh, Monday, 8th August
Thurso, Tuesday, 16th August
Glasgow, Monday, 22nd August
Dundee, Tuesday, 30th August

September 2011
Govan, Wednesday, 7th September
Edinburgh, Wednesday, 21st September
Inverness, Tuesday, 27th September

October 2011
Glasgow, Monday, 3rd October
Aberdeen, Tuesday, 18th October
Edinburgh, Monday, 24th October

November 2011
Kirkcaldy, Wednesday, 2nd November
Glasgow, Tuesday, 7th November
Inverclyde, Tuesday, 22nd November
Edinburgh, Monday, 28th November

December 2011
Glasgow, Tuesday, 6th December
Edinburgh, Wednesday, 14th December

The Foundation received and assessed a total of 67 applications for its February board meeting, and recommended to the Trustees 30 applications for support – a 45 per cent success rate.

We awarded grants totalling £169,147, mainly to organisations working in the field of mental ill health, projects supporting people with disabilities, illness or poor health, projects working in areas of poverty, and families in chaos.

Of the 30 award recommendations, 23 per cent were for grants of less than £5,000 which will provide support to seven charities benefiting more than 1,600 individuals.

The awards were very much aimed at small/medium-sized organisations, with 16 recommendations being for charities with fewer than five employees and all but two of the charities having fewer than 12 employees.

In keeping with the Foundation’s ethos of striving to help charities operate, many of the grants were awarded to help with running costs.

Henry Duncan Awards were made to the following:

Aberdeenshire

• Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living Network, which was awarded £6,000 towards the salary of a Project Manager. The charity, based in Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, is aimed at improving the lives of people aged over 50, particularly tackling problems relating to access to services, social isolation and poor mental health.
  
  
• People First (Fraserburgh), which was awarded £5,235 towards the costs of running advocacy workshops on consumer issues.
  
  Argyll & Bute
  
• Dunoon Link Club, a self-help group for adults with mental health issues or who have suffered mental ill-health, which received £7,100 to cover its centre’s rent, gas and electricity costs.
  
  
• Kintyre Youth Enquiry Service, based in Campbeltown, which provides training opportunities for young people. It received £6,000 towards the Project Co-ordinator’s salary.
  
  Clackmannanshire
  
• Reachout with Arts in Mind, an Alloa-based expressive arts self-help group for people experiencing mental health distress. The £6,000 grant it received goes towards the salary of an Administrative Support Worker.
  
  East Dunbartonshire
  
• CLASS which received £2,500 to pay a Dance Coach and hire a hall to deliver dance sessions to children and young people who attend a language and communication unit.
  
  Edinburgh City
  
• Caring in Craigmillar, which has been providing care services in and around that part of Edinburgh for many years. It received £6,460 to support the expansion of its Phonelink service.
  
  
• Dignity Alert and Research Forum, based in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, which gives advice and support to those affected by female genital mutilation. The £5,500 it received went towards the salary of a part-time Programme Officer.
  
  
• Green Team (Edinburgh and Lothians Ltd), which received £5,760 to cover the salary of the co-ordinator of its Green Shoots programme. It promotes positive behaviour by involving disadvantaged young people in community projects such as path clearing and tree planting.
  
  
• LGBT Healthy Living Centre, which tackles health inequality among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Edinburgh. The £6,000 grant it received goes towards the salary of an Outreach and Support Worker.
  
  
• Stepping Stones (North Edinburgh), which caters for the needs of very young parent families through group work and individual support. Its £7,000 grant went towards the salary of an Outreach Parenting Support Worker.
  
  
• Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society Lothians, which supports families who have lost a baby through perinatal death, cot death or miscarriage. Its £6,020 grant went towards the salary of an Operations Manager.
  
  Glasgow City
  
• Common Wheel, a Maryhill project which provides therapeutic activities for patients being discharged from hospital. It received a £6,000 grant towards the salary of a full-time Project Manager to work with people with severe and enduring mental health problems.
  
  
• Connect 2 Out of School Care Services, which was awarded £6,500 towards the salary of a part-time Childcare Worker. The organisation is based in Dalmarnock.
  
  
• Cranhill Community Project, which provides a range of care services in the East End of Glasgow. It received £6,500 towards the salary of a part-time Finance Officer.
  
  
• Drumchapel Caravan Users Group Project, which received £5,000 towards the salary of the part-time Administrator.
  
  
• Govan Home and Education Link Project, which promotes parental involvement, adult education and employment, family support, family events and volunteering, and also provides a breakfast club and play therapy for children. It received £6,000 towards the salary of a part-time Project Worker.
  
  
• Hep C Level, which received £5,000 towards the salary of the part-time Stress Manager.
  
  
• North Glasgow Community Food Initiative, which received £6,000 towards the salary of a part-time administrative worker. The charity runs a number of services, including the sale of fruit and vegetables, cookery classes, allotment projects and outreach services.
  
  
• Royston Youth Action, located in the East End of Glasgow, which provides a range of youth services. It received £7,500 towards the salary of a part-time Youth Worker.
  
  Highland
  
• Merkinch Development Ventures, a social enterprise in Inverness that provides training for employment opportunities for people who have mental health issues or disability, lack of skills and qualifications and lack of self-esteem. Its £6,500 grant went towards the salary of a Training and Development Officer.
  
  
• Shopmobility Highland, which received £4,400 towards the cost of two replacement scooters.
  
  Moray
  
• Moray Fresh Start, which received £2,074 to cover the rent costs of the storage facility, insurance, volunteer travel and administration costs.
  
  Orkney
  
• Orkney Alcohol Counselling and Advisory Services, based in Kirkwall, which received £7,000 towards the rental costs of office premises.
  
  Shetland
  
• Disability Shetland, which was awarded £7,500 towards the salary of a recreation club co-ordinator, allowing 135 disabled people access to activities.
  
  Stirling
  
• ACE Cornton, a community-based learning centre in an area of multiple deprivation in Stirling, which received £6,000 towards the salary of a part-time Administrator.
  
  
• PLUS, a Stirling-based organisation which offers social activities for disabled children and young people. It was awarded £6,000 towards sessional staff costs.
  
  West Lothian
  
• Craigshill Good Neighbourhood Network, which received £2,400 towards the development and running costs of the Tuesday Club.
  
  
• West Lothian Disabled Ramblers, which received £2,500 towards the transport costs.
  
  Scotland-Wide
  
• Depression Alliance Scotland, which is recognised as the leading national charity working with and for those affected by depression in Scotland. It was awarded a £6,698 grant towards the salary of a National Community Development Officer.
  
  

Two Capacity Building awards were made in the February round. Scottish Borders Rape Crisis Centre received £5,204 and Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre Dundee received £3,747.

Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland is approached by a wide range of charities for financial support. Here, we give a more in-depth look at an organisation we have supported.

It’s been an exciting time for Reachout with Arts in Mind.

In October 2010 the organisation moved into new, larger premises at The Makers Village, Alloa, and it is becoming a limited company with a trading arm, ‘Art in Mind’ – a development which will allow the charity to boost its social enterprise work.

Established in 1993 in Alloa, but now covering the whole of the Forth Valley, the organisation is an expressive arts self-help group for people over 16 experiencing mental health issues.

The charity encourages people to relax, gain new skills and take part in creative arts workshops. It provides members – there are 78 in total – with free studio space and materials, together with a tailored six-week programme of workshops run by members, volunteers and professional artists.

Through ‘Mind in Art’, it will run a cafe where people with mental health issues will be able to display and sell their artwork and jewellery and gain additional skills in catering, customer care, retail and sales. It is also planned to run evening classes which would be open to local people and run by members.

In February, Reachout with Arts in Mind received a £6,000 Henry Duncan Award from the Foundation towards the salary of an administration support worker. It is the third grant the charity has received from the Foundation.

Project manager Lesley Arthur was delighted to learn that the charity’s application was successful.

She explained: “The Foundation has been hugely supportive of us. It has seen our organisation growing and its grants have helped us hugely over the years.

“The Foundation makes the process of applying for a grant particularly easy. It’s great at giving advice, and the application form is concise and easy to complete.”

Lesley added: “Getting funding is becoming increasingly difficult, with many funders looking to support new projects and new ideas. The Foundation, however, has helped us with core costs – exactly the kind of support we need to operate.

“We are all extremely grateful for everything the Foundation has done for us.”

reachoutwithartsinmind.org.uk

From time to time the Foundation’s assessors take part in funding events and fairs across the country, giving advice and tips on applying for funding. Over the next few months we will be attending the events noted below. If you are interested in coming along, please contact the organiser direct.

Thursday 31st March Dundee
Frances Simpson
Dundee Voluntary Action
Tel: 01382 305724.

Wednesday 27th April Gorebridge, Midlothian
Lesley Kelly,
Midlothian Voluntary Action,
Tel: 0131 663 9471

Thursday 28th April West Edinburgh
Maureen Thomson
Edinburgh City Council
Tel: 0131 469 3595

If you are running a funding awareness event and would like someone from the Foundation to attend, please contact Connie Williamson by email.

Allow plenty of time – a rushed application is never a good application

Read the form and guidance notes – unbelievably, many applicants do not do this.

Complete all sections of the form – you should never mark a section of our form as ‘not applicable’ .There is always something you can tell us – don’t assume that we know, even if we have funded you before.

Keep it simple – don’t try to baffle us with jargon, we’re simple folk here at the Foundation (but not daft!). There’s nothing worse than reading through an application form and at the end thinking ‘but what do they actually do?’ Sometimes asking a friend to give you some honest feedback on your draft application can be useful.

Be clear about what difference our funding will make – we really need to know what difference our funding will make to the people you work with, e.g. it’s all very well asking us to fund the training of 2 new counsellors, but we also need to know that this will result in reduced feelings of anxiety for 10 people with mental health problems or improved coping mechanisms for 20 bereaved clients.

Be positive – don’t be frightened to show that you are enthusiastic about your project. It’s so much better for an assessor to talk through an application with someone who knows the project well and believes in it!

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Registered Office, Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland: Riverside House, 502 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh EH11 3AF
Tel: 0131 444 4020 Fax: 0131 444 4099
A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in Scotland Number SC096068. Scottish Charity Number SC009481.
A Member of the Scottish Grant Making Trusts Group. A Member of the Association of Charitable Foundations.