Connect Community Trust

Scottish Land Fund

Connect Community Trust
  1. Funding
  2. Funding programmes
  3. Scottish Land Fund

Supporting urban and rural communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and land assets.

Area
Scotland
Suitable for
Voluntary or community organisations, Public sector organisations
Funding size
£10001 to £1000000
Application deadline

All stage 2 applications must be submitted by the end of August 2020. Before this point a stage 1 application must also be completed. This typically takes around 6 months, so please allow for this when you plan your application.

Image credit: Image credit: Connect Community Trust, an example of a project funded for similar work under Medium Grants Scotland

What’s it all about?

There’s currently a lot of interest in the Scottish Land Fund. We expect we’ll have requests for significantly more money than we’ll have available when the current round of funding closes in August.

This means there will be a higher level of competition for grants than usual, and only the strongest projects are likely to be funded. If you would like to discuss your chances of getting a grant, please contact the Scottish Land Fund team at The National Lottery Community Fund or your existing Scottish Land Fund Adviser.

The Scottish Land Fund supports rural and urban communities to become more resilient and sustainable through the ownership and management of land and land assets.

Funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, it offers grants of up to £1 million to help communities take ownership of the land and buildings that matter to them, as well as practical support to develop their aspirations into viable projects.

Scottish Land Fund awards made since April 2016

Delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and funded by Scottish Government
What are we looking for?

The Scottish Land Fund is open to organisations in both urban and rural Scotland which are community-led, community-controlled and defined by a geographic area.

Successful applicants will clearly demonstrate that their project will help their local community to:

  • achieve more sustainable economic, environmental and/or social development through ownership of land and buildings
  • have a stronger role in and control over their own development
  • own well managed, financially sustainable land and buildings.

We will prioritise applications that can demonstrate significant positive impact for the community as a whole. Applicants will have the opportunity to test out and develop their ideas with support from a Scottish Land Fund Adviser.

You can apply for grants between £10,001 and £1 million to fund the purchase of land or land assets. You can also request some revenue funding to help with the cost of developing your proposal or initial running costs of your project after acquisition.

Applicants can be from one of a wide range of representative community bodies, including voluntary organisations, social enterprises or community councils.

We have a very healthy pipeline of projects that we anticipate applying for funding before this fund closes at the end of March 2021. It is most unlikely that we will be able to support all funding requests. As you are aware groups can apply for up to £1m from the Scottish Land Fund. In exceptional circumstances, larger grants may be available. Larger grants are dependent on an exceptional case being presented, together with availability of funds. All Scottish Land Fund acquisitions require a contribution from the community towards the purchase price. The maximum we can support is up to 95% of eligible project costs; the average award is around 80%, enabling us to support a larger number of communities.

How to apply

To apply, contact The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland to discuss your idea at advicescotland@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk or on 0300 123 7110. If your project is eligible you will be assigned a Scottish Land Fund Adviser from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, who will help you develop your idea and get ready to submit your application.

The National Lottery Community Fund is a Living Wage Friendly Funder. This means that we encourage our applicants to pay their staff the UK Living Wage.

Visit our Living Wage page for more information

Related documents

Get help using our electronic forms here.

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