Bank of Scotland Foundation | YouthLink Scotland

Through a new five-year strategy Building a Brighter Future for Scotland – the needs and aspirations of vulnerable people will drive the Bank of Scotland Foundation’s work as they aim to fund, support and champion the small and local charities that work to improve their quality of life.

Four strategic aims will determine the programmes of work over the next five years:

- Flexibility and mutual understanding will underpin thework as the foundation make more of multi-year and unrestricted funding, enabling charities to use their grants in the way that helps them best.

Through collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group, they will be a source of added value for charities offering strategic development support and colleague volunteers.
Working with charities and other funders the foundation aim to become more influential by championing the work of charities and raising awareness of the challenges vulnerable people face.
They will keep listening and learning, and monitoring and evaluating to continually improve and ensure they work effectively and efficiently to maximise their contribution and the impact of the charities they support.

Grants Programmes

Empower

Empower offers stability and certainty for charities with the opportunity for strategic support from Lloyds Banking Group colleagues to add value for charities and the vulnerable people they help.

To be eligible to apply, charities must: –

Have an income of between £150k – £500k.
Have a minimum of three years accounts lodged at OSCR.

Charities can apply for a 3 year unrestricted grant of £150k (£50k per annum).

Now closed for applications.

Energise

Due to open for nominations on 23rd March.

Energise is an innovative , trusting and bold grants programme enabling grassroots charities who are alive to the issues on the ground to grow, and support more vulnerable people.

To be eligible to apply, charities must: –

Have an income of £150k or less.
Have a minimum of one year accounts lodged at OSCR.

Charities can apply for a 2 year unrestricted grant of £20k (£10k per annum).

Enable

Now closed for applications.

Enable is an innovative joint grants programme with Lloyds banking Group aimed at boosing community volunteering. Funding will be provided to charities to support projects delivered through volunteers, with Lloyds Banking Group’s colleagues across Scotland volunteering their time and skills to help deliver the projects and support the charities.

To be eligible to apply, charities must: –

Have an income of £500k or less.
Have a minimum of three years accounts lodged at OSCR.

Charities can apply for a 3-year grant of between £30k – £90k (£10k – £30k per annum) for restricted funding for volunteering projects/costs/initiatives.

Thrive

Thrive is a targeted grants programme developed to support charities providing financial advice, building financial resilience, delivering financial education or simply encouraging good financial health with people living in vulnerable circumstances. This could include providing practical financial support, budgeting assistance, help with debt management, financial education, and personalised advice, to help people navigate financial challenges and build long-term resilience.

To be eligible for this programme your charity MUST:

put people in vulnerable circumstances at the heart of everything it does.
operate in Scotland and benefit people living in Scotland.
be registered in Scotland with a charity number beginning SCO.
have a minimum of 2 years accounts lodged and checked at OSCR. (Please note these 2 years accounts must be for the charity number on the financial resilience grant application).
have income between £50k and £300k as stated in your most recent accounts that have been lodged and checked at OSCR.
have records at OSCR (and Companies House if applicable) which are not overdue on the closing date for applications.
Have an OSCR record which states “it carries out activities or services itself” for the types of activity undertaken and should not state “‘it does none of these”.

Open for applications from 8th to 17th September.

Matched Giving Programme

The Matched Giving Programme encourages Lloyds Banking Group colleagues in Scotland to get involved in the voluntary sector and to help fundraise through personal participation in events or give their time freely to support the work of charities throughout Scotland. The Programme ensures funding reaches charities at a grass-roots level, creating a lasting positive impact in local communities.

If you are a charity and you have Lloyds Banking Group colleagues fundraising and/or volunteering for your charity you can ask them if your charity would be eligible to receive Matched Giving should they wish to apply.

Every permanent Lloyds Banking Group colleague in Scotland is entitled to claim up to £1000 in each calendar year from the Matched Giving Scheme for a charity for which they have either raised money for or given time to. We will match every pound they raise or donate £10 per hour of voluntary time given, to a maximum of £500 for fundraising events and/or £500 for voluntary time given, provided that the claim falls within the rules of the scheme and the charity is eligible for funding.

If you are a Lloyds Banking Group colleague you can apply online via Group Interchange. Please check the guidelines before applying and if you require assistance please contact the Bank of Scotland Foundation team on 07384 902196.

The funding year runs from January to December.