The purposes of the Edinburgh & Lothian Trust Fund are the relief of poverty and the provision of support to individuals who, by reason of health, disability or otherwise are in need of assistance. ELTF also provides assistance to other charities whose purposes are similar.
Who can apply?
We welcome applications from voluntary organisations which meet the following criteria:
- Are properly constituted and registered with OSCR as charitable
- The organisation’s aims and objectives are to provide social welfare and support those in need
- Are specifically, for the benefit of people in Edinburgh and the Lothians
- Are solvent, not in debt, and having an annual turnover of under £200,000
- Have reserves of no more than 6 months operating costs
Priority will be given to organisations which:
- Combat inequalities
- Promote voluntary action
- Relieve poverty
What kinds of projects will the Trust consider?
The Trustees will consider funding to assist progress in any local charitable organisation by grant-aid up to £2000 annually to cover specific main administrative and developmental needs.
Examples of what the Trustees might consider to be main administrative or developmental needs include:
- Volunteer expenses
- Recruitment and training of volunteers
- Training of staff
- Essential equipment, including IT
- Printing and publicity
- Telecommunications and postage
What is excluded?
The Trust does not normally accept applications from the following organisations:
- Organisations with a turnover of more than £200,000
- Organisations with significant liquid reserves (normally more than six months)
- National organisations, (unless their grant is for a specific project meeting a local need in Edinburgh and the Lothians, and where there is an independent local committee and accounts so that the responsibility is with the local initiative. In this case the financial restrictions above will apply to the local unit)
- Commercial organisations
- Statutory agencies
- Schools and colleges
The Trust does not normally provide grants for the following purposes:
- Salaries, fees or similar
- Core property costs, such as new buildings, property repairs, extensions, alterations, property rental, rates, utility costs etc.
- Educational and adventure type projects, holidays or day visits
- Arts, environmental or sports activities, except where a significant social service or therapeutic intent is the main aim
- Travel and transport (except as part of core volunteer expenses)
- Disbursement to other agencies
- General appeals
Any grant purpose which is not specifically excluded will be considered by the Trustees
Information for Applicants
- Grants within any category will not normally exceed a period of three years
- Organisations successful in obtaining a grant for 3 consecutive years may have to wait a further year before they can submit a further application
- Only one application for an organisation will normally be considered in a twelve-month period, whether successful or not
- Grants should not be to fulfil statutory duties
- Applications for grants are considered at the Trustees meeting, four times a year
- The Trustees decision is final
Please ensure that you send to us by email or post the following items with your application form, otherwise your application will not be considered:
1. Latest Annual Report
2. Latest Annual Accounts scrutinised by an independent person as required by the charity finance regulations (or if not available, a copy of the most recent budget or draft accounts, with an explanation)
3. Up to date income and expenditure forecast or budget for the current financial year
Grant dates and deadline applications for 2019-20 are as follows:
Trustees meeting Deadline for applications
14th May 2019 7th May 2019
13th August 2019 6th August 2019
19th November 2019 12th November 2019
11th February 2020 4th February 2020