Voluntary Action Fund

Grants

Grant Making

Voluntary Action Fund is Scotland's leading independent grant-making body investing in voluntary and community based organisations throughout Scotland.   The funding and support VAF provides enables community based organisations to undertake projects that challenge inequalities and overcome barriers to being involved in community life.

Our grant programmes meet the needs of disadvantaged communities through encouraging volunteering and tackling discrimination. VAF currently manages three grant programmes, which are all funded through the Scottish Government.

They include:

The Volunteering Scotland Grant Scheme (VSGS)

The VSGS provides grants for up to three years for projects that attract harder to reach volunteers. The philosophy behind VSGS is simple: that with dedicated resources, organisations can develop and sustain high quality volunteering opportunities for people who need more support to get involved, and that with this extra resource of volunteers, the organisation can enrich its services.   VAF has recently awarded grants to 62 organisations.  Twenty three of the awards are for small grants of less than £5,000, while the remaining 39 are for more substantial projects over one, two or three years.

The Community Chest (CCP)

The CCP is a new grant programme launched in 2008 aimed at small community groups across Scotland. The Community Chest provides grants of up to £1,000 to help small community groups with an income of under £25,000 fund their activities.

The aim of the Community Chest is to help build the capacity of groups in Scotland to deliver their activities. Groups in receipt of a grant will also have the opportunity to attend a number of free workshops covering topics such as charity law, making successful funding applications and managing money.

VAF is particularly keen to support community groups from geographic areas where it has been traditionally difficult to receive applications. These areas are reviewed regularly.

The Equality Grants Programme (EGP)

The EGP incorporates 4 separate streams funded through the Scottish Government Equality Unit.  The programme aims to combat inequality, foster integration, promote dialogue and understanding between communities:

• Race Religion and Refugee Integration Fund
  
• Grants through the Gender funding stream
• Grants through the LGBT funding stream
• Grants through the Disability funding stream

Each funding stream has specific outcomes and grants are for a maximum of 2.75 years from 2008 to March 2011. In addition to managing the grants programme, VAF provides investment support and capacity building to funded organisations.