We were open for applications from 9th October 2023 until 16th November 2023
- We received 87 applications with a total requested amount of £398,000 and project costs of £811,000
- 22 local authorities were represented
- 67 applications were first time applicants
We sifted these applications and 36 were selected to have a full assessment. The 36 applications represented 17 local authorities.
At the end of February 2024 we held our grant making panel, again with a representative from groups previously funded by us.
With the funding we were able to make the following grants:
1-year grants:
- Award 25 grants with a total investment of £97,123
- Funds were distributed across 14 local authorities, national work being part of the delivery for some groups
- 11 organisations are women led
- 4 of these groups are new to the Women’s Fund for Scotland
- 19 have an income of less £150,000
- All of our 6 investment themes are represented
- Number of women and girls estimated to benefit is over 2,000
3-year grants:
- Awarded 8 grants at £3,000 pa for 3 years
- 7 local authorities are represented with some national work.
- 1 of these grants is reaching women and girls in the Hebrides
- 5 groups are led by and for women with 1 group piloting some important female specific awareness around a specific health concern often overlooked in women
- 2 of the groups are new to the Women’s Fund for Scotland
- 7 groups have a turnover of less than £250,000 and 1 tiny at £37,000
- All 6 investment themes are represented
Combined we have managed to reach 16 local authorities and some national work happening too.
Total invested over both programmes in 2024 – 2025 = £121,123
Sadly, in March 2024 one of the groups we had awarded a grant to had to withdraw their application as they were unable to accept the grant. This group is now closed. The statistics above have been amended to reflect the loss of this group.
| Organisation | Local Authority | Project Description | Investment Theme |
| Able2Adventure CIC | Highland | A2A is seeking to launch a new project for local mum’s who currently struggle to get outdoors due to lack of confidence and/or skills. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Cairngorm Confidence Outdoors CIC | Highland | This funding will deliver the “Trail Therapy Badenoch and Strathspey” project between April 2024 and the end of March 2025. Trail therapy is a therapeutic intervention using mountain bike (MTB) group rides led by specifically trained leaders | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Catalyst Vineyard Church | Aberdeen City | The application is for a project called ‘Restore’ which supports vulnerable women, in particular, women who have experienced domestic abuse and/or who have been involved in the sex industry or victims of human trafficking. | Moving on from Abuse |
| Creation Mill CIC | Dumfries and Galloway | The organisation would like to use the funding to continue the delivery of its “Social Stitches” outreach project which currently comprises of four fortnightly and one weekly social group which bring together women with a shared love of textile crafts. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Denis Law Legacy Trust | Aberdeen City | The trust is applying for funding for lunch time sports sessions ran by their Street Sport programme, aimed specifically at girls with the aim of increasing female participation in sport. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Dirt Divas MTB CIC | Stirling | To support the delivery of Dirt Divas Mountain Bike and Gravel Festival 2024 which will aim to promote off road biking to women and girls across Scotland. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Empowering Women in Dumbarton West | West Dunbartonshire | The is to fund the cost of venue hire, equipment and material purchases and fees for an experienced cook to establish a programme of weekly cooking classes from April to December 2024 | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Combat Poverty/Build financial resilience |
| Fire & Peace Recovery | Glasgow City | To contribute to the running costs of the Women Empowerment Movement (WEM) to support women who are recovering from mental health challenges, domestic violence and substance or sexual abuse, loss, and suicidal tendencies by organising wild camping trips. | Moving on from Abuse |
| Fountainbridge Canalside Community Trust | City of Edinburgh | The grant will contribute to the cost of running a project for women from April to October 2024 called Canalside Girls Greenspace Group. The women will work together to plan, develop, and deliver small greenspace improvements along the banks of the Union canal | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Home-Start Clackmannanshire | Clackmannanshire | This project will offer Skate and Relate counselling sessions to two of the all-women parent/carer groups run by Home Start Clackmannanshire. These groups meet weekly, in Menstrie and Alloa, to offer women a chance to focus on their own personal needs. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Jubilee House | Renfrewshire | The grant will support the provision of a creche facility for women attending Jubilee House. | Moving on from Abuse |
| Just Bee Productions | Dundee City | A grant of £5,000 is requested to cover the operational expenses of the Just Sew project, featuring 50 weekly three-hour sessions dedicated to teaching sewing and embroidery skills, alongside creative crafts such as tote bag and pencil case making | Building Skills and Confidence improving Health and wellbeing Addressing poverty |
| Making Rights Real
work being delivered by Fa’side Women’s Group |
East Lothian | This is a pilot project that will be run in partnership with Fa’side Women and Girls group in East Lothian, on intergenerational gender-based budgeting. | Developing Leadership and Innovation |
| Maryhill Integration Network SCIO | Glasgow City | Funding is being sought to deliver 37 sessions with the Oasis Women’s Group. Each week the group welcomes between 20 – 25 women, from various backgrounds with the majority of participants seeking asylum in the UK or having recently been granted refuge. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| PCOS Relief | City of Edinburgh | The project will provide educational workshops about Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) to women in ethnic minority communities in Falkirk, Stirling, Inverness, and Aberdeen. | Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Period Place | Aberdeenshire | This project, ‘Mothers & Daughters’, will offer community based interactive workshops focused on women’s health and wellbeing, including sensitive conversations about periods. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Pregnancy And Parents Centre | City of Edinburgh | PPC are requesting a grant of £4,474 for the continuation of their Motherswalk group and music sessions for young mothers and their babies/toddlers. Funding will enable weekly 2-hour sessions for 16 weeks each. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Sewing2gether All Nations | Renfrewshire | This project will purchase materials to be used in creative workshops for women from the asylum seeker and refugee community. The workshops teach machine and hand sewing, creating practical items from upcycled donated textiles and fabrics. | Build Skills/Confidence Grow Social Connections |
| SISU | Glasgow City | This project is part of SISU’s wider ‘Young Women’s Development Programme’ that will offer a variety of therapeutic and counselling support, mindful and practical workshops, outdoor activities, and a nature-based retreat for women. | Moving on from Abuse |
| Slaghammers LTD | Glasgow City | This project will offer six beginner metalwork workshops. Three will be for women with experience of the asylum system in collaboration with Unity Sisters, and three will be with young LGBTQI+ people in collaboration with Rumpus Room in Glasgow. | Developing leadership/innovation Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| Stirling4Community SCIO | Stirling | The grant will contribute to the ongoing costs of running a women’s wellbeing group. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| SWAN | Dumfries and Galloway | This project will offer 1-to-1 peer support for autistic women. It will be delivered by a project worker who is qualified in Mental Health Peer Support with a specific focus on autistic women’s mental health. | Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| The Collective | Scottish Borders | To fund sessional tutors to run a year’s worth of workshops of varying lengths, to teach recycling skills to a high level, introducing women to learning woodworking, upholstery, furniture restoration, refashioning clothes, making do and mending, | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing |
| The Green Team (Edinburgh and Lothians) Limited | City of Edinburgh | They are applying for £4,800 as a contribution towards their ongoing ‘Skylarks’ project. This is a programme of activities aimed exclusively at girls aged 13-16. | Build Skills/Confidence Improve health/wellbeing Grow Social Connections |
| West Lothian African Women’s Network | West Lothian | An award would fund a free-to-attend Black Women into Leadership programme; a series of six 2-3 hour events for 50 marginalised and deprived BAME women in West Lothian, designed to inspire and empower them to overcome the barriers that exclude them. | Developing Leadership and Innovation |
Multi-year grants
| Organisation | Local Authority | Project Description | Investment Theme |
| Amma Birth Companions | Glasgow City | Amma Birth Companions intends to utilise a grant to bolster their Advocacy and Community Engagement programme. The grant will facilitate the appointment of an Advocacy & Community Engagement Manager and foster the growth of their Experts by Experience programme. | Improving health/wellbeing Grow Social connections |
| Ellie’s Community | Argyll and Bute | EC is requesting grant monies to support the ‘Help in Crisis’ Project. The ‘Help in Crisis’ project aims to meet increasing demand for intensive one-to-one support for women at times of deep crisis related to domestic abuse. | Moving on from abuse |
| Haemophilia Scotland | Edinburgh | HS is requesting grant monies to support its ‘Female Factors’ project. This will be a three-year initiative dedicated to empowering and supporting women and young women living with bleeding disorders throughout Scotland. | Improving health/wellbeing |
| Kairos Women+ | Renfrewshire | This grant will contribute towards the salary the organisation’s Senior Coordinator who will coordinate support activities for volunteers. | Developing leadership/innovation Building skills/confidence Grow Social connections |
| Paws For Progress CIC | Stirling | Funding is being sought to sustain dog-assisted programmes for incarcerated women and girls in dire need over the next three years. | Building skills/confidence Improving health/wellbeing |
| Positive Changes CIC | Stirling | The applicant is requesting grant monies to deliver a blended project over the next three years. This project will incorporate a series of online “Improving Your Health & Wellbeing” workshops specifically for marginalized women. | Improving health/wellbeing Building skills/confidence |
| Re-Tweed | Scottish Borders | Funding will contribute towards core staffing, running and capital costs as well as childcare and advanced tailor training for approximately 50 individuals over the 3 years. | 5 of 6 themes – all except moving on abuse |
| Volunteering Hebrides | Eilean Siar | Volunteering Hebrides is requesting grant monies to deliver a multi-year project, entitled SHEmendous! The project will focus on building self-esteem, independence, resilience, confidence, and overall wellbeing in women and girls who reside across the western isles. | Aims to target several themes |