A Scottish charity has announced it received a “significant increase” in community funding applications over the last six months across Grampian and the Highlands.
Foundation Scotland, a national community funding organisation, reported an 18% increase in applications in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands.
Support reached over 190,000 individuals across 114 projects from a total of £401,658.
Organisations such as Moray Women’s Aid, Aberdeen Bangladeshi Welfare Trust and Hope Counselling have all received support.
Westhill and District Men’s Shed in Aberdeenshire also received £2,000 to make personal protective equipment (PPE) – producing over 2,500 face coverings that went to front-line workers, independent care homes and small businesses.
Foundation Scotland said that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic it has received almost the same number of applications in the last six months as it received in the whole of last financial year.
The number of Scotland-wide charities and community groups receiving funding across the charity’s funding programmes has grown by 92%.
Helen Wray, programme manager at Foundation Scotland said “We could see the impact that Covid-19 was going to have and we knew we needed to move extremely quickly so that we could continue to deliver reliable financial support to groups delivering essential services across the country.
“We are working relentlessly to get support to where it is needed most through this challenging time.”
As the Covid-19 crisis ramped up in Scotland in March, Foundation Scotland launched a ‘response, recovery and resilience fund.
Working in partnership with the National Emergencies Trust (NET), an additional £3.6 million was awarded to groups across in Scotland.
Ms Wray added: “Fortunately, our partnership with NET meant we were able to respond immediately and could open and offer new funding opportunities.
“At the same time, we have kept all of our other important funding streams open as normal.
“We appreciate that funding is becoming harder to secure and demand for essential services is often higher than ever before.
“So we are delighted that due to an increase in funding from NET, we are able to continue to offer these essential awards to allow groups to apply for support where they need it most.
“We are however encouraging groups to apply as soon as they can.”