New Round of Pockets and Prospects funding

We’re very pleased to announce that we have some funding to deliver a second round of Pockets and Prospects: we have up to £4,500 to distribute for projects that will contribute to enhanced well-being for deprived communities by providing opportunities for outdoor volunteering, benefiting physical and mental health.

We’re expecting to support 3-4 projects, so grants are likely to be between £500 and £1500. Match funding is not required, but if you have a larger project then P&P may be able to contribute. We need to commit the funding in the next few months, although spend can take place in 2020.

Possible activities which could be funded include:
• Costs of setting up and running volunteering groups (tools, PPE, etc)
• Training for group members to work with volunteers
• Outreach and promotion of opportunities available in your woods.
This is not an exclusive list and if you have other ideas we can put them to Scottish Government / Scottish Community Alliance for approval.

As before, the funds are from Scottish Government, via the Scottish Community Alliance, and their purpose is to mitigate the adverse impact of welfare reform, so the work you do must be targeted at areas of greatest need - this is usually quantified using the SIMD (there is a very useful interactive mapping tool at http://simd.scot/2016/#/simd2016/BTTTFTT/9/-3.3191/56.6290/ ). Note that your woodland does not need to be in a highly deprived SIMD area, but you will need to demonstrate that your activities will benefit people who live in these areas.

Other criteria:
• Your project needs to be additional: doing something new, or extending your activities to work with a new group of clients / volunteers.
• Your group must be a paid-up member of CWA.
• Groups that received funding from the first round of Pockets and Prospects may apply again, but it must be for a new project.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss a specific project idea please contact Jon on jon@communitywoods.org