Scottish charities to benefit from over £2.5m in the first half of 2021

Since the Foundation launched on 10th November 2010, its funding has helped to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland, addressing areas such as unemployment, poverty, digital inclusion, mental health and homelessness in some of Scotland’s most deprived areas. 

With Covid-19 having a devastating financial impact on many people, debt or loss of income will become an issue for many. In light of this, the Foundation’s Invest programme will launch for a second year in March 2021, but with a new theme; ‘Supporting financial vulnerability’. 

Any charity with an annual income of between £100,000 and £1m and who are either a financial vulnerability charity or one that has projects addressing financial vulnerability, are eligible to apply to the Invest programme for up to five years of funding. This could include for example charities or projects addressing poverty, unemployment, debt or loss of income or those providing financial advice and assisting with financial literacy.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, earlier this year the Foundation broadened the eligibility criteria for Reach so that charities with an income of £1.5m or less could apply for funding. Keen to ensure that its funding continues to support as many communities as possible through the difficult winter months, this increased income limit will continue until at least June 2021.

Philip Grant, Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and Chair of the Scottish Executive Committee, Lloyds Banking Group said, "As the operating environment for charities across Scotland becomes increasing difficult and the impact of Covid-19 becomes apparent, I am pleased that we can make over £2.5m of funding available to charities in the first half of 2021 to help them continue to support vulnerable people during such challenging times."

"Over the last ten years we have distributed over £21m to over 2,200 charities across Scotland and I am proud to be Chair during this milestone year."