Funding to Support New Ideas in Scotland’s Rural Communities
Funding for not-for-profit groups and organisations in rural Scotland to support innovative community-led projects and initiatives which address local priorities and help them work collectively to make positive changes.
The Rural Communities Ideas into Action Fund (RCIA) is administered by Inspiring Scotland with £1.5 million of investment from the Scottish Government. The Fund aims to encourage and support innovative approaches to Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) in rural communities across Scotland.
Funding is available to groups and not for profit organisations to explore new approaches to genuine rural community development, and to allow them to better align community-based activity with community priorities.
Two strands of funding are available:
- Small grants of up to £3,000 for grassroots rural groups or organisations to support community projects that fit with local needs and are locally led.
- Large grants of between £3,001 and £50,000 for not-for-profit organisations to invest in community-led initiatives that respond to local need.
The funding will support both capital and revenue costs for projects that are community led and that:
- Support whole community priorities that recognise and respond to particular and distinct local opportunities and challenges.
- Deliver social, economic and environmental benefits to people and communities.
- Positively impact upon Covid recovery.
- Promote equality, inclusion, diversity, and participation of local people within the community, thereby enhancing local democracy.
Projects must be delivered by the end of March 2022.
The deadline for applications is 8 October 2021 (12 noon).
(This report was the subject of a GRANTfinder Newsflash.)
