Glenkens & District Community Fund

About this fund

Glenkens & District Community Fund will distribute funds provided by Blackcraig Wind Farm (Scotland) Ltd from its Blackcraig wind farm, and Greencoat from its Windy Rig wind farm, both in Dumfries & Galloway.

Main grants from the fund can support projects located within or directly benefiting people in the following community council areas: Balmaclellan, Balmaghie, Carsphairn, Corsock & Kirkpatrick Durham, Crossmichael & District, Dalry, Dunscore, Glencairn, The Royal Burgh of New Galloway and Kells Parish and Parton. For boundary maps and other information on community council areas, please see the Dumfries & Galloway Council website or contact us for help.

Funds will also be used to make small grants directly available from each of the Community Councils in the area of benefit, and you can contact your Community Council directly to find out more.

Groups can apply for a standard grant of btween £500 amd £25,000.  Multi-year awards are available, for a maximum of three years and a maximum of £75,000 (capped at £25,000 per year of support sought)>  Please note that for grants over £25,000, the Trust uses a two stage process.  Use the enquiry form in the How to Apply section for requests of £25,000+.  your enquiry will be considered at the next Board meeting and if successful you will be invited to apply and sent a large grant form link direct.  For grants under £500, please get in touch with your local Community Council. 

The fund will have two deadlines a year. A separate fund has been established to support individuals to access training and education opportunities information on which can be found on the Glenkens & District Education and Training Fund website

Pre Application Enquiries

We welcome pre-application enquiries. For more information about the fund, contact Foundation Scotland on 01557 814927 or email grants@foundationscotland.org.uk

Purpose of this fund

The purpose of the fund is to support our communities to be connected, resilient and carbon-neutral places, where people will want to live, work and visit, to bring up their families, and to grow old.  Priorities for the fund are directly linked to the Glenkens & District Community Action Plan which can be viewed here.  To further understand the purpose of this Fund, the Fund Strategy documents may be useful to review.

The fund’s current priorities are:

A Connected Community

This will support activity which helps us to become more connected, for example through projects which promote effective communication, collaboration, sharing of information, skills and assets and which bring people together.

An Asset Rich Community 

This will support activity which aims to make the best use of our assets - people, the natural and built environment – and sustaining them for the future. For example, this could include affordable housing or energy-efficient community spaces; opportunities for young people which support their development; projects which enable people to share skills, knowledge or heritage; supporting biodiversity or improving access to the landscape.

An Economically Flourishing Community

This will support activity that maximises our ability to flourish economically; for example, ensuring equity of access to services, training and opportunities; and focusing on the sustainable best use of local skills and resources such as tourism, food and farming.

A Carbon Neutral Community

This will support activity that supports communities to become carbon neutral. For example, through developing initiatives that seek to reduce carbon footprint such as the production of local energy plans, sustainable transport initiatives, energy efficiency measures, renewable energy initiatives and zero waste projects).

These examples are not intended to be exhaustive. If applicants are unsure as to their fit with the fund, they are encouraged to seek advice from Foundation Scotland.

How much is available?

Around £250,000 is available each year. Other additional funds are available directly from Community Councils in the area of benefit - please contact your local Community Council directly to find out more.

Additional criteria

The full fund strategy is available within the download section below. Here you'll also find a copy of the Glenkens & District Community Action Plan (CAP) which outlines the fund's thematic priorities.

In order to recognise the Plan’s importance as the distillation of community ambition and aspiration across much of the fund area, and to support its implementation. Priority for awards will be given to projects that align with the CAP. However, this is not a guarantee of an award; every project is considered on merit. 

It should be noted that applicants are not constrained to only submitting projects which deliver specifically against the CAP’s current outline options for implementation – the fund will support a wide range of activities that move the community towards the goal(s) outlined at the thematic level.

Communities in the area of benefit which did not participate in the Glenkens & District action planning process - Carsphairn, Dunscore and Glencairn (Moniaive) - have set their own community priorities individually. The agreed fund priorities are sufficiently broad to also support these and applicants from these areas should reference their own community plans or evidence of community priorities when making an application to the fund.

Where a group wishes to apply for a grant for more than one project it may submit more than one application or consolidate multiple projects into a single application. However, any single application cannot exceed the maximum grant level across the various projects. If more than one application is made, or where more than one project features in an application, the organisation may be asked to confirm the priority order of the applications or projects to facilitate decision-making by GDT. 

The fund also will prioritise applications that can demonstrate the use of one or more of the approaches outlined below which are designed to improve how community groups plan and deliver projects and work together better. Applicants are encouraged to show that they have considered some of these in an appropriate and proportionate way relative to their project. 

• Partnership working: Some groups already collaborate and share ideas and resources. We want to encourage more of that because we will all benefit from more sharing. So we want to encourage groups to explore if delivering their project in partnership with other organisations/groups adds value (financial, capability, or other). This could involve collaborating with other local groups or working with voluntary, private or public sector agencies that operate at local, regional or national levels.
• Geographic breadth of impact: We appreciate and respect that some activity is very place-based and delivered to a specific group perhaps tied to a particular place. However, where possible, we want to encourage people to consider if their project or activity can link with or reach other parts of the fund’s area of benefit.
• Building skills, knowledge & understanding: We want to encourage applicants to consider opportunities to build the skills and knowledge of group members or other local people, associations or organisations connected with the project. This could be formal or informal or through some form of mentoring activity, peer support or buddying scheme, or any other learning or development opportunity that could be created through the project.
• Being imaginative: The fund can support established project activity but if people have ideas to try different things, we want to encourage that. Whether it’s trialling a new event, running a service differently or reaching new people in different ways. We don’t want our communities to be limited by what they have known until now. We want us all to think ambitiously and creatively especially where people have new ways of solving old problems.
• In it for the long term: We want to encourage applicants to take a long term view of their project. So when an application is for recurring activity (such as rental of a space or an annual festival), please consider how that activity might become more sustainable at some point in the future. Of course, some things are not sustainable without external funding and will always be grant dependent. Do tell us if this is the case with your project and why.
• Respecting and caring for our local environment – for ourselves and future generations: We recognise the importance of protecting our environment. We recognise too that our actions as citizens and participants in community life can contribute to the growing climate emergency we all now face. So consider where and how your project can contribute, even in a very small way, to combatting this emergency. This may, for example, mean, encouraging car sharing if volunteer travel is involved, or other carbon reduction/ energy awareness features.  
• Leverage/match funding: Match funding is not mandatory but we would hope that those applying for higher-value grants will be able to demonstrate that other funders are contributing to the total project cost or bids are in progress.   
• Procuring smartly: Where possible we encourage applicants to work with suppliers of goods and services local to their area. Of course the definition of ‘local’ will vary depending on the goods/services in question. In some cases, it could be taken to mean suppliers located within the fund area of benefit (the ten communities) but in others, a more regional reach may be more appropriate.

Who can apply?

Groups and organisations working to benefit people in any of the eligible communities can apply. 

Your group/organisation must meet our standard eligibility criteria. You don’t need to be a registered charity to apply.

Applications from groups/organisations located outwith the fund area will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must demonstrate a clear benefit for residents within the fund area. 

What can’t be funded?

Information on what the fund cannot support is provided here.

How are decisions made?

Decisions on grant awards are made by Glenkens & District Trust (GDT), which is a SCIO which exists to resource and enable community development in the Glenkens and surrounding communities. The GDT board comprises residents drawn from across the area of benefit. Fund administration is provided by Foundation Scotland, a national grant-making charity. Our role includes assessing applications received and general liaison with groups.

The Board is made up of Trustees nominated by Community Councils in the fund area along with up to four independent Trustees. Trustees are drawn from the community council areas of Dunscore; St John’s Town of Dalry; New Galloway & Kells; Balmaghie; Crossmichael; Parton; Corsock & Kirkpatrick Durham; and Balmaclellan. The geography and current grantmaking arrangements covered by GDT also takes in the community of Carsphairn, though Carsphairn currently has chosen not to be represented on the Board.

 A list of the current Trustees and more information about GDT including summaries of Board meetings can be found here.