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@eastayrshireleisure.com.
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Latest funding alerts
East Ayrshire Council - Anti-Poverty and Inequalities Grant
East Ayrshire Council has created an Anti-Poverty and Inequalities Grant Programme which is targeted at providing resources for innovative projects which will help to tackle poverty.
Applications are welcome from any constituted third sector partner who would like to propose new initiatives, enhance a current initiative, or add long term sustainability to a current initiative.
Projects should be connected to one or more of the strategy’s themes of:
- household poverty
- child poverty
- health and wellbeing inequalities
- building individual and community resilience
- building organisation capacity to tackle poverty
The fund is open on the East Ayrshire Council website. There is no current deadline for applications.
Apply at Engagement East Ayrshire: Anti-Poverty and Inequalities Grant
Cash4Clubs
The 2025-26 programme is focused on supporting adult participation in sport. Funding is available to groups that support over 18s only.
Not-for-profit organisations, including charities, community groups and traditional sports clubs from across the UK and Ireland are eligible to apply. The fund will provide 250 unrestricted grants of £2,000 each.
Priority will be given to applications from groups working in areas of high deprivation and engaging adults from specific under-represented groups.
The fund is open on the Cash4Clubs website. The deadline for applications is 8 December 2025.
Apply at Cash4Clubs
Help the Homeless
Grants of up to £5,000 for capital projects that help homeless people return to the community and rebuild their lives.
Funding is targeted at projects to find practical ways to help disadvantaged individuals return to the community through training or residential facility provision, rather than merely providing short term shelter.
The fund is open on the Help the Homeless website. The deadline for applications is 15 December 2025.
Apply at Help the Homeless
Hugo Burge Foundation
Applications are being accepted for grant funding to support creative projects, organisations and individuals across the UK.
The funding is structured around three strands:
- Creative Education supports projects that provide people aged 0 to 29 with opportunities to engage in creative activities
- Creative Communities focuses on organisations, festivals and community groups delivering cultural and arts-based events locally
- Creative Individuals is for artists, writers and craftspeople pursuing independent work
Grants of up to £15,000 are available for projects under the Creative Education and Creative Communities strands. Under the Creative Individuals strand, grants of up to £5,000 are available. Applicants may include individuals, schools, arts organisations, community groups and festivals.
The fund is open on the Hugo Burge Foundation website. The deadline for applications 30 September 2025.
Apply at Hugo Burge Foundation
John Lewis Foundation - Building Happier Futures
Grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 are available to make a difference / to improve the lives of people who have grown up in care and will support projects that address the following:
- Focus on care experienced people. The Foundation works to improve the lives and harness the talents of individuals who have experienced care.
- Education, connection, experience and fun. The focus is on making a demonstrable difference to care-experienced people. This could be through employability in the broadest sense, including training, skills, experience, education and social skills. Activities will also support advocacy and fundraising for care-experienced people.
The fund is open on the John Lewis Foundation website. The deadline for application is 25 September 2025.
Apply at John Lewis Foundation: Building Happier Futures
Leeds Building Society Foundation - Small Grants
Grants to UK registered charities for projects which address one or more of the following themes:
- financial stress - projects that help with bills or debt stress
- security and refuge - projects that support emergency accommodation
- quality and suitability of housing
- health and wellbeing support for those experiencing homelessness if it is part of wraparound support and the application also meets at least one of the other themes
UK registered charities with a turnover of less than £1 million based anywhere in the UK can apply for small grants of between £250 and £1,000.
The fund is open on the Leeds Building Society Foundation website.The deadline for applications is 3 November 2025.
Apply at Leeds Building Society Foundation: Small Grants
Local Energy Scotland - CARES Development Fund
Community groups in Scotland can apply for grants to support the early stages of community-owned energy or shared ownership projects.
The fund is intended to help organisations take the first steps in developing local energy projects. This may include raising awareness of project ideas, completing an options appraisal, carrying out a feasibility study or funding staff time to progress plans.
Grants of up to £30,000 are available, covering up to 100% of eligible costs. Funding must be used to achieve a specific project milestone by the end of February 2026, although applicants may reapply to CARES for further support as their projects develop.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the end of February 2026, or whenever funding is fully allocated, whichever is sooner.
The fund is open on the Local Energy Scotland website. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the end of February 2026, or whenever funding is fully allocated, whichever is sooner.
National Archives - Seed Corn Grants
Community groups, Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and other heritage organisations working with communities in the UK can apply now for grants of between £500 and £5,000.
The funding is intended to support early-stage, exploratory projects that aim to spark new ideas and innovative approaches to community engagement with heritage.
The grants are particularly designed to help organisations test concepts, build partnerships, or pilot activities, with a strong emphasis on experimentation and learning.
Applications are particularly encouraged from smaller and grassroots groups.
The fund is open on the National Archives website. The next deadline for applications is 28 November 2025.
Apply at National Archives: Seed Corn Grants
Royal Society of Edinburgh - Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Catalyst Award
Community groups and organisations in Scotland can apply for grants to deliver research projects that promote health through environmental improvements, access to nutritious food and community wellbeing.
Funding is aimed at pilot-scale demonstrator projects that support community-led research and practical solutions. Projects should encourage inclusive participation, particularly from underserved groups, and generate approaches that can be scaled to address local challenges.
Grants of up to £5,000 are available for projects lasting up to 12 months.
The fund is open on the Royal Society of Edinburgh website. The deadline for applications is 4 December 2025.
Apply at Royal Society of Edinburgh: Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Catalyst Award
SafeDeposits Scotland - Community Fund
Grants of up to £5,000 are available to groups and organisations across Scotland to deliver a variety of projects and activities that benefit local communities.
Groups can apply for funding for projects that positively impact local communities by addressing the following priorities:
- sustainability and the environment
- employability and career skills
- social inclusion
- technology and digital inclusion
- improving the local community
The fund is open on the SafeDeposits Scotland website. The deadline for applications is 28 November 2025.
Scops Arts Trust
Grants of up to £30,000 to registered charities, and other constituted, not-for-profit organisations across the UK, to deliver projects and activities that help people to understand, participate in, and enjoy the arts, particularly the performing arts (music, drama, opera, and dance).
In 2025, the Trust will continue to focus on one area of performing arts in each grant round.The final funding round of 2025 will focus on supporting children and young people's instrumental music education (excluding choirs).
Music education and engagement projects for children will be considered at every grant round.There is a two-stage application process. Groups must first complete an eligibility check before being invited to submit a Stage one application.The deadline for stage one applications is 9 December 2025.
The fund is open on the Scops Arts Trust website. The deadline for stage one applications is 9 December 2025.
Apply at Scops Arts Trust
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
East Ayrshire 4 Community
You can also search for grants and check your eligibility at East Ayrshire 4 Community, which is a free service.