The funding alerts below are updated regularly to let you know of important information about funding deadlines for community groups and charities.
If your group is awarded a grant from any of the funds highlighted in these alerts, please let us know by emailing ExternalFunding@ayrshire360.com.
Stay connected
Sign up to StayConnected to receive regular funding alert bulletins straight to your mailbox. It offers you a list of subjects which you can add to, or unsubscribe from, at any time.
It's a free subscription-only service and it's easy to sign up. You just need a username and email address.
Latest funding alerts
9CC Group
Funding for groups operating in the following community council areas:
- Auchinleck
- Patna
- Ochiltree and Skares
- New Cumnock
- Netherthird
- Cronberry
- Logan and Lugar
- Drongan
- Rankinston and Stair
- Dalmellington
- Cumnock.
The 9CC Group supports the following themes:
- active community: to create outdoor activity attractions which will benefit both locals and visitors from around Scotland
- entrepreneurial community: to generate jobs with a focus on green jobs and opportunities for young people, and create centres that celebrate local heritage
- connected community: to improve transport links, plus phone and internet connectivity
- net zero: to embed renewable energy in local homes and community assets
- children and young people: to set up facilities, projects and services for young people that allow them to enjoy recreational activities, develop skills and become entrepreneurs
The fund is open on the 9CC Group website. The deadline for applications is 27 November 2026.
Apply at 9CC Group
Bagri Foundation
Grants of between £5,000 and £100,000 for not-for-profit arts organisations across the UK to deliver artistic projects that promote the sharing of traditional and contemporary Asian culture.
Funding is for projects that:
- promote the sharing of traditional or contemporary Asian culture
- include established or mid-career level artists from Asia or the diasporas
- result in a tangible public outcome
Groups must first submit an online expression of interest before being shortlisted to complete a full application.
The fund is open on the Bagri Foundation website. The next deadline to submit an expression of interest is 5 October 2026.
Apply at Bagri Foundation
Foundation Scotland - Scottish Building Society Foundation
Grants of up to £5,000 to support projects that deliver lasting benefits for vulnerable individuals and communities.
Applications are open to registered charities, constituted voluntary and community groups and Community Interest Companies with an annual gross income below £250,000.
The Foundation is looking to support projects with wide community reach, bring people together and promote inclusion. Areas of interest include:
- community facilities and services
- transport
- open spaces
- affordable housing
- poverty reduction
- care of the elderly
- youth and education activities
- training opportunities
- support for vulnerable young people
Funding can also support projects that improve community safety, reduce isolation and promote wellbeing.
The fund is open on the Foundation Scotland website. The next deadline for applications is 12 October 2026.
Apply at Foundation Scotland: Scottish Building Society Foundation
Historic Environment Scotland - Heritage and Place Fund
The grants support heritage-led projects that combine repair and reuse of historic buildings and places with traditional skills training, materials-related work and activities that help communities connect with local heritage.
Proposals should reflect local priorities, be developed through partnership and respond to community needs and interests, with a focus on long-term management and maintenance after completion.The Development Phase supports planning and preparation for a Delivery Phase application.
Eligible costs include staff and project management, professional and specialist consultancy, historic asset condition surveys, local skills and materials audits and community engagement and consultation.
Delivery Phase awards typically range from £750,000 to £1.5 million, depending on scheme size and match funding. There is no fixed upper limit, but awards must demonstrate value and clear impact.The deadline for applications is 29 January 2027.
The fund is open on the Historic Environment Scotland website. The deadline for applications is 29 January 2027.
Apply at Historic Environment Scotland: Heritage and Place Fund
LGBT+ Fund - Get Active Fund
Applicants can seek £5,000 to £25,000 for a one-year project, or £10,000 to £50,000 in total for two-year work.
Support is intended to increase resources for groups that are under-recognised by funding initiatives and to improve access to physical activity for LGBT+ communities.
Physical activity is defined as activity that intentionally and explicitly supports increased movement and wellbeing, with examples including hiking, skateboarding, football, ballroom and vogue, gardening, frisbee, dance and circus skills.
Applicants must be UK-based, LGBT+ led non-profit groups or organisations led by and for LGBT+ people. They must regularly deliver sports or physical activities, with delivery in the past three years considered recent, and they must have been running for at least six months.
The fund is open on the LGBT+ website. The deadline for applications is 4 November 2026
Apply at LGBT+ Fund: Get Active Fund
Linnean Society - Our Local Nature Grants
Grants of up to £1,000 for community organisations linked with young people to deliver projects and activities that engage young people with local nature and natural spaces and improve their understanding of local biodiversity.
Community groups and other organisations working directly with children and young people aged 16 and under can apply for funding for a variety of activities, such as:
- running a school festival about nature
- painting community murals showcasing biodiversity in the area
- building or restoring a community garden
- creating a nature walk
- hiring a speaker to come and talk about local foraging
The fund is open on the Linnean Society website. The deadline for applications is 25 October 2026.
Apply at Linnean Society: Our Local Nature Grants
McCarthy Stone Foundation - Festive Connections Programme
Grants supporting activities for people aged 65 and over which must take place between 1 December 2026 and 2 January 2027. They should create opportunities for older people to meet, socialise and take part in festive activities.
The support is intended to help people feel connected, included and remembered. It is not intended simply to provide gifts or food parcels. Priority will be given to applications showing clear need among the people and communities served.
Where other factors are equal, organisations working in areas with higher deprivation affecting older people will be prioritised.
Eligible applicants include registered charities, exempt charities, constituted community groups and community interest companies limited by guarantee. Organisations must have an annual income below £250,000.
Awards can be up to £750. The grants can contribute towards festive meals, community activities, transport, venue hire and befriending. They may also cover other costs directly related to bringing people together.
The fund is open on the McCarthy Stone Foundation website. The deadline for applications is 15 October 2026.
Apply at McCarthy Stone Foundation: Festive Connections Programme
Mickel Fund
The Trust provides donations primarily to Scottish charities for activity that aligns with one of the following areas:
- the advancement of education
- the prevention or relief of poverty
- the advancement of health and saving of lives
- the advancement of the arts, heritage, culture and science
- the advancement of public participation in sports
Awards range from £500 to £10,000.
Registered charities may apply, including those working in areas such as:
- age concern
- animal welfare
- cancer care
- cancer research
- children and youth support
- education and outreach
- hospices
- housing and homelessness
- injuries
- medical assistance
- music and culture
- medical research
- veterans
- worldwide appeal-based projects
The fund is open on the Mickel Fund website. Applications can be submitted at any time.
Apply at Mickel Fund
Music for All
Grants are available for schools, community groups, educational establishments, and other not-for-profit organisations across the UK to support initiatives that are seeking to bring music to their communities.
The programme is for groups that need assistance to fulfil their potential in developing truly sustainable music programmes. Applicants should be based in deprived or marginalised areas and be developing music education for those living in the area, including, but not limited to, social infrastructure.
In the current round, support will be available in the following distinct areas:
- up to five electro acoustic guitars or five electro classical guitars
- up to 12 acoustic guitars
- up to 30 ukeleles
- up to 30 Pbuzz instruments
- a software programme - up to three Arturia Analog Lab V controllers
In addition to the instruments being offered, round four is providing grants up to £1,500 for groups working with early years aged children (up to age four).
Both formal and informal music-making settings may apply for the grant.
The fund is open on the Music for All website.The deadline for applications is 30 November 2026.
Apply at Music for All
National Deaf Children's Society – Community Grants
Grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 for charities and other not-for-profit organisations across the UK to deliver projects and activities that build community for families of deaf children.
In this funding cycle, the Community Grants Programme will focus on projects that support deaf children in the early years (up to age five) both directly and indirectly.
This can include:
- play schemes
- programmes of days out for families
- skills development and peer-to-peer support for parents or carers
- schemes to train deaf young people as role models for younger children
The fund is open on the National Deaf Children's Society website. Applications can be submitted at any time throughout the year.
Apply at National Deaf Children's Society: Community Grants
People's Postcode Trust
Grants of up to £50,000 across a three-year period for registered charities, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs), Community Interest Companies (CICs) with an asset lock (Schedule 1 and 2 only) and Community Benefit Societies with an income of between £10,000 and £1 million in the most recent financial year.
The organisation's main activities and objectives must be focused on one of this year's funding themes:
- preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
- enabling participation in the arts
- supporting marginalised groups and/or tackling inequality
- improving mental health with a focus on organisations that are actively supporting specific mental health issues as a core purpose, rather than general mental wellbeing activities
The fund is open on the People's Postcode Trust website.The deadline for applications is 1 October 2026.
Robertson Trust - Large Grants
Large Grants are available to registered charities working in Scotland with an annual income of over £200,000 and up to £2 million that support people who are experiencing, or at high risk of experiencing, poverty and associated complex trauma.
Grants provide revenue funding of between £20,000 and £50,000 per year, typically for three years, for projects aligned with one of four themes:
- financial security - tackling the financial and material effects of poverty on people and communities
- education pathways - equipping people for the future by supporting learning and skills
- work pathways - ensuring that paid work is a more reliable route out of poverty
- nurturing relationships - addressing the cycle of persistent poverty and intergenerational trauma, enabling people to recover and thrive
The Trust is particularly interested in funding those who work with groups who are more likely to experience poverty or trauma, including lone parent families, disabled people, and communities experiencing racial inequity.
The fund is open on the Robertson Trust website. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
East Ayrshire Council Community Grants
To check the next deadline date for applications please contact Democratic Services at Council Headquarters on 01563 554400 for further information.
Apply for a Community Grant
Renewable Energy Funds
To check the next deadline date for applications please contact Democratic Services at Council Headquarters on 01563 554400 further information.
Apply to the Renewable Energy Fund
Tincornhill Quarry Fund – Sorn
For further information on application criteria and deadlines please email secretarytqf@gmail.com
Previous funding alerts
CIT Funding Alert 25 September 2026 (PDF 315 KB)
CIT Funding Alert 11 September 2026 (PDF 337 KB)
CIT Funding Alert 28 August 2026 (PDF 303 KB)
CIT Funding Alert 10 August 2026 (PDF 355 KB)
CIT Funding Alert 17 July 2026 (PDF 316 KB)
CIT Funding Alert 3 July 2026 (PDF 333 KB)
East Ayrshire 4 Community
You can also search for grants and check your eligibility at East Ayrshire 4 Community, which is a free service.