Response to the pandemic proved decisive

Foundation Scotland awarded over £32 million in funding in the last 18-months, the organisation has revealed.

The community foundation has managed 122 different funds and awarded over 5,600 grants to almost 3,000 organisations across Scotland since the end of March 2020.  

The funder maintained all other funding programmes while simultaneously running the dedicated Response, Recovery and Resilience Fund throughout the crisis.  This £7.3 million emergency fund included substantial donations from the National Emergencies Trust, Scottish Gas, Queensberry Trust and Rockstar Games. 

Within just 12 days of the first lockdown, the team had awarded over £1 million in grants. By September, crisis support had reached over one million people.

By October, Foundation Scotland had assessed more applications through the pandemic than through the entirety of the previous year.  

In a new report published by the foundation, the funder outlines the powerful impact delivered through the emergency grant programme.  70% of funded groups indicated that their activity would not have happened without the crisis grant meaning there would have been no support provided within their local community, and over 80% of funded projects started during the pandemic continue to deliver support today. 

Giles Ruck, chief executive at Foundation Scotland, said: “Community groups have been the beating heart of Scotland’s response, and we are proud to be the funder they know they can turn to in times of need. 

“Likewise, we are grateful that we became the first call for many donors eager for us to distribute their funds quickly and efficiently. 

“Through our 25-year history as the country’s only community foundation, we have developed an unparalleled understanding and appreciation of the community groups working tirelessly to deliver real impacts on the ground.    

“Grantees told us how they appreciated our flexibility, how this approach enabled them to quickly adapt as restrictions and situations changed at local levels.  We offered support to long-standing organisations but also to those passionate new groups set up specifically to respond to new, unmet needs.”

He added: “As we look ahead, Foundation Scotland remains dedicated to supporting these incredible local groups; to positively take forward our learnings from the past 18-months, to live by our shared open and trusting grant-making commitments, to reach and connect with new donors keen to distribute funds effectively at local levels.”