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
Alec Dickson Trust
Grants of up to £500 are available for volunteering or community service projects in the UK that are organised and run by young people aged 30 and younger to help them put their ideas into action and run projects that benefit the lives of others, particularly the most marginalised and disadvantaged.
Alec Dickson Trust provides funding for UK-based projects that:
- encourage youth volunteering - particularly those that involve lots of volunteers- and encourage people to continue volunteering in the long term
- have a positive impact on disadvantaged communities and individuals, particularly projects that address a specific need and have a long-lasting and meaningful effect on those they reach
- are innovative and try to do things differently, such as using social media creatively or using existing resources in new ways
The fund is open on the Alec Dickson Trust website.The deadline for applications is 2 July 2025.
Apply at Alec Dickson Trust
Heart Research UK - Healthy Heart Grants
Grants of up to £15,000 are available for new community projects aimed at supporting adults to reduce their risk of coronary heart disease, helping them to lead healthier, happier and longer lives.
Applications are currently being accepted from small registered charities and community interest companies (CICs) with an annual income of less than £1 million.
Activities must have a primary focus on one or more of the following four risk factors for heart disease:
- nutrition and healthy eating
- physical activity
- smoking
- alcohol consumption
The fund is open on the Heart Research UK website. The deadline for applications is 9 July 2025.
Apply at Heart Research UK:Healthy Heart Grants
NatureScot - Scottish Government Nature Restoration Fund
Grants for projects for groups across Scotland that restore wildlife and habitats on land and sea and address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change across the following themes:
- habitat and species restoration: management for enhancement and connectivity
- freshwater restoration, including restoring natural flows in rural catchments
- coastal and marine initiatives which promote restoration, recovery, enhancement, or resilience
- control of invasive non-native species impacting on nature (INNS)
- urban: enhancing and connecting nature across and between towns and cities
Grants are available across the following funding strands:
- helping nature grants of between £25,000 and £250,000
- transforming nature grants of over £250,000 - through this funding strand, a development option is also available for applicants seeking to fund development phase activities such as feasibility studies, land or site investigation, or the development of project plans
The fund is open on the NatureScot website. The next deadline to submit an Expression of Interest is 14 July 2025.
Apply at NatureScot: Scottish Government Nature Restoration Fund
People's Postcode Trust
The funding is for projects in Scotland that have a clear alignment with one of the Trust's 2025 themes:
- enabling participation in physical activity
- enabling participation in the arts
- improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
- improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors
- preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
- providing support to improve mental health
- supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality
Depending on their not-for-profit legal structure, organisations can apply either for a grant of between £500 and £2,500 or between £500 and £25,000.
The fund is open on the People's Postcode Trust website. The deadline for applications is 1 July 2025.
Apply at People's Postcode Trust
Randal Charitable Foundation
Grants of between £5,000 and £30,000 for UK-based charities with a global operation to deliver innovative projects and initiatives that drive positive, life-saving, and life-transforming change and address poverty, health inequality, and access to clean water.
The fund is open on the Randal Charitable Foundation website. Applications can be submitted at any time until a sufficient number have been received.
Apply at Randal Charitable Foundation
Sofronie Foundation
Funding for registered charities and not-for-profit organisations across the UK to deliver projects that provide young people with skills for jobs and increase access to higher education.
Funding is for interventions that:
- increase access to higher education
- increase access to vocational training
The fund is open on the Sofornie Foundation website. Applications can be submitted at any time.
Steel Charitable Foundation - UK Under 26 Fund
Grants starting from £10,000 are available for groups to deliver projects and activities that improve outcomes for children and young people who are wholly or mainly under 26 years of age.
Emphasis will be given to creating education and/or access opportunities for young people in circumstances, groups, or locations that face economic challenges or social marginalisation that may lead to significant disadvantages in later life.
The fund is open on the Steel Charitable Foundation website. The next deadline for applications is 15 July 2025.
Apply at Steel Charitable Foundation: UK Under 26 Fund
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.