For more than a decade, Women’s Fund for Scotland (WFS) has invested in work that helps women and girls across Scotland to build skills, improve wellbeing, move on from abuse, grow social connections, step into leadership, and strengthen financial resilience. Those priorities shaped hundreds of grants and remain part of who we are.
As needs evolve, so do we. From 2025, we’ve wrapped our long-standing focus areas into three flexible investment themes that make it easier to describe the impact we back—while keeping the door open to the new and the unexpected.
Our three flexible themes
Thrive
We fund work that enables women and girls to thrive in everyday life—economically, socially and educationally. This can include confidence-building, skills and employability, leadership pathways, social connection, and financial resilience.
Heal
We support approaches that help women and girls heal from trauma, abuse and other harms—practically and therapeutically. This can include recovery support, peer networks, specialist services, and projects that reduce barriers to health and wellbeing.
Rise
We invest in collective power so change lasts. Rise includes movement-building, organising, and coalition work; campaigns and advocacy led by and for women and girls; leadership in communities; and efforts that shift policy, practice and culture.
These themes are guiding pathways, not rigid boxes. If your work benefits women and girls in Scotland and the fit isn’t obvious, tell us about the need and the difference you’re making—we’ll look for the best route to support.
How our previous themes map into Thrive, Heal and Rise
Our historic investment themes continue to live within the new framework:
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Building skills and confidence → Thrive/Rise
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Improving health and wellbeing → Heal / Thrive (depending on focus)
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Moving on from abuse → Heal
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Growing social connections → Thrive/Heal
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Developing leadership and innovation → Thrive / Rise
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Combatting poverty and building financial resilience → Thrive/Rise
(You’ll still recognise these strands in our grant portfolio; we’ve simply grouped them more clearly for today’s challenges.)
What this means for applicants
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Start with the need. Use the theme(s) that best reflect the change you’re creating. It’s fine to select more than one.
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Collective work is welcome. If you’re organising, coalition-building or shifting systems, you’re likely a Rise project.
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Room for innovation. If your idea sits between themes—or pushes into new territory—we still want to hear from you.
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Scotland-wide relevance. As always, we fund activity that benefits women and girls in Scotland.
