The National Lottery Community Fund (Scotland): Young Start Fund

Young Start provides funding to help children and young people across Scotland become more confident, so they can realise their own potential. Funding is available for up to three years, and from £10,001 up to £100,000.

Young Start funding can support youth-led work that achieves at least one of the following three outcomes:

• Children and young people have better physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
• Children and young people have better connections with the wider community.
• Children and young people get access to new skills and training opportunities which will help them to get a new job or start a business.

The National Lottery Community Fund also believe that the following three approaches are vital in making sure that their funding makes the biggest difference possible. They want to fund work that is:

• People-led– meaningfully involving the young people you’re working with in the development, design and delivery of your activity.
• Strengths-based – making the most of, and building on, the skills and experiences of young people and assets within communities.
• Connected – having a good understanding of what others are doing locally, developing good working relationships and complementing and adding value to other relevant activity in your area.

Young Start will pause taking applications from noon on 19th December. This will help the National Lottery Community Fund to get ready to launch an exciting, refreshed Young Start programme in Spring 2026 — one that better centres the voices and ideas of children and young people across Scotland.