Glasgow Communities Fund

Background Information

The Glasgow Communities Fund (GCF) was introduced by Glasgow City Council in October 2020. The Fund provides 3-year funding to community and third sector organisations to deliver a diverse range of projects at a city-wide and local level.

The current phase of the Fund runs from April 2023 until March 2026. The Fund supports close to 240 organisations to deliver a range of activities across the city to the value of over £55m. Within the Fund, over £6.5m has been allocated to support Financial Inclusion and Legal Support activity over the three-year funding period, delivered by organisations within the Glasgow Advice and Information Network (GAIN).

The Council is planning to deliver the next phase of the Glasgow Communities Fund during 2026-2029, following the same core principles of the previous two phases.

Applications are invited from eligible community and third sector organisations during February till April 2025. The budget allocation for the Glasgow Communities Fund (2026-2029) will be confirmed later in 2025 as part of the Council's formal budget setting process.

How to apply for funding and available support

The Glasgow Communities Fund (2026-2029) is open to applications from 13 February until 12 midday on 7 April 2025.

The application and support pack can be accessed here:-

The deadline for submitting applications is: 12:00 midday on 7 April 2025.

The Council cannot accept any applications submitted after this deadline.

Support available - support is available to applicants during the application window:-

On-line Information Sessions

In partnership with GCVS, several online information sessions were hosted to support organisations interested in applying to the Glasgow Communities Fund. Over 450 people attended these sessions which were held on 19^th, 21^st, 24^th, 25^th and 26^th February. You can watch a recording of a session below.

Applicants will also be able to access support sessions on "Making Better Applications", delivered by GCVS. Further information on support sessions is available at https://gcvs.org.uk/product/gcfundsupport/.

For questions about the Glasgow Communities Fund, including technical support in applying, please contact the Council's Grants Team at cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk

FAQs

These FAQs should be read in conjunction with the Fund Overview and the Step-by-Step Guide. Most answers can be found in these documents, available on the webpage.

1. When does the application process open and what is the closing date?

Applications are in the form of a Smart Survey. The application process opens on 13 February 2025.

The Smart Survey application will close on Monday 7 April 2025 at 12 midday.

It will not be possible to submit an application after the deadline of 12 midday on 7 April 2025. No extensions to the deadline will be granted.

2. Who can apply?

This Fund is open to community and Third Sector organisations that deliver locally within Glasgow and engage local people in the design and development of services to meet their needs. These can be new or established services.

Please see the Fund Overview for more detailed eligibility information.

3. Will consortium bids be considered?

No, consortium bids will not be accepted.

4. Will there be assistance available to organisations to complete the application?

Yes - in addition to the guidance documents available on the website there is a series of online Information Sessions to guide applicants through the application process. These are being delivered in partnership with Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS).

More information on the Information Sessions can be found here - GCF Fund Information Sessions

Applicants will also be able to access support sessions on "Making Better Applications", delivered by GCVS

Further information on support sessions is available at- https://gcvs.org.uk/product/gcfundsupport/

You can also contact the Grants Team with any application related enquiries, including technical queries at cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk

5. What if I experience technical difficulties with the application?

If you are experiencing problems with the application, please contact the Grants Team, clearly explaining the issue that you are having - cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk

6. How much can I apply for?

You may apply for a minimum of £20,000 and a maximum of £200,000 in each year. It is anticipated that demand for the fund will be high so you should only apply for what you need.

7. How many years funding can I apply for?

You may apply for 1 year, 2 years or 3 years funding. Applicants should carefully consider how many years they require funding for.

8. Is match funding required?

Match funding is not a mandatory requirement. We ask about match funding to see how the total project costs will be covered.

9. What happens after we submit our application?

Once you have completed your application and pressed submit, you will see a screen that says, 'Thank you for submitting'. Once submitted, you will be emailed a copy of your application in pdf format, for your records. You should receive this within 24 hours, but usually immediately.

10. What if I don't hear from you within 24 hours after I have submitted my application?

If you do not receive an email within 24 hours, please first check your junk/spam filter before emailing cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk.

Please see the Fund Overview for more detailed information.

11. When will we know if our application has been successful?

We anticipate funding decisions being made by November 2025. We will share the funding recommendations with you at that time by sending you a link to the relevant Committee report/s.

It is our intention to formally advise both successful and unsuccessful applicants in December 2025.

12. If our application is successful, will we receive the full amount we applied for?

We can't guarantee that successful applicants will be awarded the amount of grant applied for. Please refer to the Fund Overview document for more information on this.

13. Do you provide feedback on unsuccessful applications?

Yes, we'll provide feedback to those that are unsuccessful early in 2026. Further information on this will be available later in the process.

14. Is there an appeals process?

There is no appeals process. All decisions made are final.

15. Is the application/guidance available in alternative formats?

If you require the application information in a particular language or format (non-English) please contact cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk

16. Would the minutes from our recent AGM count as Trustees Meeting Minutes?

No. You should upload a copy of the minutes from your last Board/committee meeting with your application.

17. Why is a copy of the board minutes required? Can we include a limited section of this (i.e. just the first page)?

Your Board meeting minutes will form part of the overall assessment of your Governance. Any sensitive information can be redacted. We want to ensure that you are working in line with your governing document and that meetings are recorded properly. A partial minute would be acceptable as long as the date, attendees and some text around the discussion is included.

18. Why are there word limits on some of the text boxes in the application?

We anticipate demand for the fund to be high with a large volume of applications and supporting documents requiring to be assessed. Word limits have been applied to certain questions to assist you to answer questions clearly and concisely. Smart Survey does not have the facility to let you know when the word count has been reached, we suggest that you cut and paste from a Word document to allow you to monitor this. A Word version of the application form is also available on the GCF Webpage.

19. I am seeking funding for a few hours of the Project Manager's salary. The remainder being funded by another source. How do I reflect this within the budget template?

In the Budget Template you should provide information on all staff posts involved in the project you're applying for, whether you are requesting support from the Glasgow Communities Fund for them or not. Please DO NOT list all staff posts within your organisation.

If a post works entirely on the project, you should include the full costs for that post in columns A-G, and insert the number of hours the Glasgow Communities Fund will support in column J.

If you have a post within the organisation that only works on this project some of the time, you should enter a description for the full post in Column A. e.g Project Manager, 35 hours, £44,000. You should then only complete columns B-G with the number of hours and salary that will be attributed to the GCF funded project. e.g. No. of hours: 5, Annual Salary: £6,285 and so on. You can then input the number of hours of the partial post that you wish to be funded by GCF in column J. If you want the partial post fully funded from GCF, the number of hours entered in column J should match column C. If it is only being part funded, the figure in column J should be less.

In all cases, the figure in column K will then automatically calculate. Further help notes are provided on tab 2 of the Budget Template.

20. Will the information we provide be made available to others via an FOI request?

Applicants to this Fund should note that Glasgow City Council, as a Scottish public authority, is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Further information is available on our website and on the Scottish Information Commissioners website.

21. Will new projects be favoured over projects that are already up and running?

No, each application will be assessed on the same criteria.

22. Will the fund be open for applications next year (2026) or is this the only chance to apply for this 3-year period?

No, this is the only opportunity to apply for funding during the period 2026-2029.

23. Can we apply if we are paying only the National Living Wage?

You can apply but it is a condition of funding that staff members funded from the GCF are paid the real Living Wage.

You can get more information here on the real Living Wage and also on the Scottish Government's Fair Work First Framework.

24. Our organisation only has Independently Examined accounts, will these suffice?

Information on the type of accounts that are required to be submitted can be found in the Standard Conditions of Funding document on the website.

25. Will inflationary increases to salaries be eligible, are there any specific details around this?

The Fund budget will not be known until later in 2025. If organisations are including inflationary increases to salaries in their budget, then it would be for the organisation to determine these amounts, we ask that these meet at the real Living Wage minimum.

26. Can we put case studies in with our application?

No, please only submit the documents requested in the application. You may be able to incorporate a case study within the application questions. However, please use the space within the application to provide as much detail as possible and only include a case study within the text limit if space allows. Please don't include any hyperlinks in your application.

27. What if a document is too big to upload, can it be emailed?

No, please do not email documents separate to your application. If you have a technical issue with the application, then please contact cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk

28. If people are going to attend in more than 1 year, do you still want us to count them in each year? This will be a participant number, but not a unique beneficiary number?

Yes, the total number of beneficiaries should be included for each year.

29. Will we be marked up if we select a Secondary Fund Theme?

No, selecting a Secondary fund theme will not improve the chance of your application being successful.

Please see the Fund Overview for more detailed information.

30. Will we be marked up if we select more than one Theme Outcome?

No, selecting multiple Theme outcomes will not improve the chance of your application being successful.

Please see the Fund Overview for more detailed information.

31. Is there a weighting attached to the Fund Themes, is one Theme considered a higher priority than another?

All themes will be assessed equally with no one theme prioritised over another.

Please see the Fund Overview for more information.

32. Are we able to submit the budget template in a different format?

Please ensure that you upload the Budget Template that we have provided. Budget Templates submitted in any other format will not be accepted and may render your application ineligible.

33. Can you provide a breakdown for the ages of children and young people?

Early years is between 0-5 years old, children are between 6-11 years old and young people are between 12-24 years old.

34. Please explain who the Council family partners are?

Glasgow Life, Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership (GHSCP), Education Services, Chief Executives - Economic Development, Transformation Team and the Communities Team

35. Will the overall budget be divided by themes or according to the merits of activities proposed regardless of where they sit? Would there be a disadvantage to have the same theme as many other organisations?

No. There is no budget allocated against the themes. No one theme is being prioritised over another.

36. My organisation runs various diverse services across Glasgow. Can we submit more than one application for our different services.

No, we can only accept one application per organisation.

37. Do you have income restrictions for the organisations who wish to apply?

No, we don't specify any such restrictions for applicants.

38. On the Smart Survey application, do you have to fill out each question before you can move on to the next page or can you leave it blank and come back to it?

If it's a mandatory question, you will need to insert some kind of response to move to the next page. You could use the Word version to confirm your answers then transfer to the online version of the application.

39. Are the employer costs budgets only for PAYE staff or can we include sessional/freelance workers? i.e. sessional youth workers.

All staff working on the project can be included. You can specify this in the budget template beside the post name.

40. Is full cost recovery acceptable for projects? We received feedback last time that it wasn't permitted. However, the guidance stated it was.

The Fund Overview guidance for both the current Glasgow Communities Fund and the next round in 2026-2029 indicate that 'full cost recovery' is an eligible cost

41. What is the preferred increase in inflation projected over these three years?

As an independent organisation, this is up to you to decide

42. We are a national organisation but deliver in Glasgow, are we still eligible to apply?

Yes, as long as activities are delivered within Glasgow and benefitting the people of Glasgow.

43. Is this fund considered separate to Glasgow's Holiday Programme? Can you apply for this fund even if you are already in receipt of the holiday fund?

Yes, they are two separate funding streams, you can apply for both.

44. If it's an existing project, are we ok to fund the existing staff or do we need to do open recruitment?

Yes, your project budget can include costs associated with existing staff

45. Are there any restrictions on project participants, such as those with no recourse to public funds?

We understand that some projects will support individuals with 'no recourse to public funds' (NRPF). Applicants may wish to contact the Grants Team for guidance where this is the case, at cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk

46. Can the fund be used to support those seeking asylum?

The Fund currently supports project activities aimed at supporting asylum seekers and refugees and this would continue to be 'eligible' project activity in the new round of the Fund in 2026-2029.

47. Please share more information on the Social Value Lab report noted against the VAWG theme?

The research by Social Value Lab will be shared when available. This is expected to be week beginning 10 March 2025.

48. If successful are monies awarded after work is completed (ie charities need to pay up front for costs in advance)?

This depends on the amount of funding as there are various different payment methods however in most cases funds are paid in advance.

49. Can bank statements have parts redacted..i.e. where a data breach would occur if not redacted?

Sensitive information can be redacted however the Bank Statement must show the Name of the organisation (to match the name on the Governing Documents), Branch details, Date, Account Number and Sort Code.

50. I recently completed a smart survey application with Glasgow City Council and it timed out around every 3 minutes if not saved, will this be roughly the same?

We are not aware of this issue. If this happens when completing the Application form, please contact cesgrants@glasgow.gov.uk.

51. If there are any confidential matters in the Board minutes can these be redacted?

Yes, please only redact sensitive information and not all information.

52. Why is there a minimum funding figure of £20,000 per year?

This is the minimum funding as agreed by the City Administration Committee. There are smaller pots of funding available from the Council such as Area Partnership grants.

53. What will the reporting requirements be for the Fund?

We currently have a Performance Monitoring Framework which involves 6 monthly and annual monitoring reporting and in-person monitoring visits (minimum annually). Our Framework for 2026-2029 is currently being reviewed.

54. Do you have guidance on salaries appropriate for particular roles?

This is not provided by the Council however, if you want to speak to GCVS about the going rate for certain positions, please contact sectordev@gcvs.org.uk

55. Regarding Wards - not everyone fills out our feedback forms so it's not always clear where participants are from. If we're mostly 1 ward but have some participants from others, do we guesstimate?

Yes, please provide a best estimate where you anticipate participants will come from.

56. Question 36 relates to numbers of individuals and organisations. Does the organisation number relate to people attending from a specific organisation and do we have to list organisations?

No, you should include the number of organisations. There is no need to list the organisation names. Some organisations support individual service users, some organisations support individual organisations, and some do both.

57. City Wide Projects - How do we record number within wards if we currently don't have this information?

If you are not able to determine the estimated geographical location of beneficiaries, you may wish to consider splitting the anticipated beneficiaries equally across 23 electoral wards.

58. Our project already has funding in 2023-26 through the Glasgow Communities Fund. Do I have to apply for future funding since we are funded until March 2026?

Yes, if you are an existing project under the Glasgow Communities Fund then your funding will cease on 31 March 2026. You would have to apply through the process for your application to be considered.

The Fund themes in 2026-2029

New Fund themes have been developed to support Grand Challenge One and associated missions, of the Councils Strategic Plan.

The Fund themes are:

Supporting Children, Young People and Families
Promoting Culture and Creativity
Developing Community Infrastructure
Improving Health and Wellbeing
Challenging Violence Against Women and Girls

More information on the Fund themes can be found in the Fund Overview document.

Glasgow Communities Fund 2026-2029 Related Content

Applicants may find it useful to refer to strategic documents which are relevant to the Fund. These are provided below:

- Glasgow Economic Strategy 2022-2030

- Community Plan: Local Outcome Improvement Plan 2024-34

- Glasgow's Child Poverty Action Plan Report 2023-24

- Community Learning and Development Plan 2024-27

- Glasgow's Culture Strategy 2024 - 2030

- GCHSCP Health Improvement Strategy 2023-28

- Equally Safe 2023 Refresh strategy

- National Youth Work Strategy (2023-2028)

- GCHSCP Strategic Plan 2023-26

- Glasgow City Food Plan 2021-2031

- Community Climate Adaptation routemap

- Circular economy routemap

- Glasgow's Physical Activity and Sport Strategy 2025-2035 (not published yet)

- Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) website

- Child Poverty Dashboard

This section will be updated as and when further documents become available to publish.

The Aims of the Fund

The Fund aims to tackle poverty and inequality through:

Building the skills, capacity and resilience of individuals and communities
Supporting activities and services that will enable and empower communities to become involved in the social, economic and cultural life of the city
Removing or minimising disadvantages experienced by people, in particular those with protected characteristics

The Principles of the Fund

The Fund is guided by the following principles:

Communities are best placed to identify and deliver solutions that meet their needs
Community led organisations are vital to creating, empowering and sustaining resilient communities

These are further underpinned by a focus on: early intervention and prevention; innovation and initiativesthat respond to emerging areas; improved outcomes and a recognition of full cost recovery.

The Priorities of the Fund

The Fund is underpinned by two priority areas:

Improving Communities

Through this priority area we want to provide opportunities for communities and individuals to improve their lives by addressing the impact of barriers such as deprivation, disadvantage, exclusion, inequality and isolation.

We want to support services and activities that improve the health, well-being, social and/or economic position of communities and individuals that enables them to reach their full potential and play an active role in the city.

Resilient Communities

Through this priority area we want to provide opportunities for communities and individuals to actively participate within their local communities and empower them to identify and deliver solutions that meets their needs.

We want to support services and activities that strengthens resilience, encourages learning and skill development and increases aspirations and confidence of communities and individuals, that enables them to reach their full potential and play an active role in the city.

The Outcomes of the Fund

The Fund has the following overarching outcomes:

People and communities have access to services, support and opportunities that improve their lives and well-being
People and communities are more self-reliant and are better able to identify ways to improve and take control of their lives and well-being
People are better able to gain the skills, capacity and confidence to play an active role in their communities
People and communities are better able to influence and participate in decision making and service development
People and communities are better able to identify and deliver solutions that meet their needs
People and communities are better able to participate in the social, economic and cultural life of Glasgow

Glasgow Communities Fund 2023-2026 Related Content

Celebration and Learning Event

On Wednesday, 25 September 2024 we welcomed over 250 guests to the City Chambers to celebrate the amazing work delivered across the city by projects funded by the Glasgow Communities Fund and Glasgow's Holiday Programme. We were joined by Susanne Millar, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council and Councillor Anne McTaggart, City Convener of Communities and Equalities.

If you would like to watch highlights from the event or would like to share with colleagues who weren't able to join us, please refer to the links below.

The Grants and Monitoring team continues to work through the feedback and comments gathered as part of the event and will use this to shape future interactions.

Susanne Millar, Chief Executive, Glasgow City Council

Watch Susanne Millar's speech from the Celebration of Learning Event where she welcomed everyone to the City Chambers.

Councillor Anne McTaggart, City Convener of Communities and Equalities

Watch Councillor McTaggart's speech from the Celebration of Learning Event where she thanked all our partners and stakeholders for their support.

Glasgow Communities Fund 2023 - 24: Highlights

A video with highlights from the 2023 - 24 programme as well as projects describing the benefits of the Glasgow Communities Fund in their own words.