Deadline: 07-May-24
The Climate Engagement Fund (CEF) aims to build understanding of the climate emergency across communities in Scotland by offering financial support to ‘trusted messenger’ organisations for climate engagement activities.
They are interested in both local and national climate change engagement projects, and they encourage bids from new-to-climate organisations as well as those well experienced with climate engagement or with projects already in train.
Tackling climate change is a strategic priority for the Scottish Government. The Climate Engagement Fund (CEF) is a key deliverable against the Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change (PES), which is a statutory requirement under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
Trusted messengers are organisations or groups with existing audiences who are best placed to engage with them on climate change.
Funding Information
- The total value of the CEF in 2024 to 2025 is £250,000.
- Applicants can request between £25,000 and £80,000 for their project and all funded activity must be completed by 31 March 2025. Funding cannot be used to cover capital costs.
Impacts, Outcomes and Outputs
- The fund is aiming to achieve the following impacts:
- delivery against the Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change
- delivery against Scotland’s statutory climate change targets, as per Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019
- More specifically, the intended outcomes of the fund are to:
- increase the number of individuals and communities who are climate literate
- increase the number of individuals and communities who understand the need to take action and are empowered to do so
- widen participation by engaging in new, innovative ways and with new communities and individuals
- The outputs of the fund are:
- The funded outputs will be agreed with successful bidders (e.g. number of events held, number of individuals engaged). Given the new and innovative nature of the Fund, these will not be set and will be assessed against their ability to deliver the objective of the funding
- monitoring reports of grant-funded activity to ensure activities are undertaken in line with Fund objectives and outputs/outcomes are achieved
Who can apply?
- Eligible applicant organisations for the Climate Engagement Fund (CEF) must be ‘trusted messengers’.
- A trusted messenger has existing links to their audiences,
- Place-based messengers, for example:
- local community or voluntary groups
- community trusts
- local government/community planning partnership
- Sectoral and institutional messengers, for example:
- education (such as colleges and universities)
- culture (such as libraries, museums, sports and leisure clubs)
- science (such as science centres, festivals)
- environment (such as eNGOs)
- Equality-based messengers, for example:
- disability representatives (such as physical or mental disability)
- minority ethnic groups/communities
- LGBTQ+ community
- faith/belief groups
- age advocacy groups (including children and young people)
- gender groups
- Applications from the following groups will not be considered:
- private sector businesses
- individuals or influencers (such as social media influencers, celebrities, national figures)
- Organisations that have recently been funded by the Scottish Government may be asked to show how they are diversifying their funding.
- Eligible applicant organisations must also be one of the following:
- incorporated i.e. the organisation holds legal status with corporate liability for finances and assets evidenced through registration with a regulatory body such as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) or a charity based in Scotland that is also either registered with Companies House (as a company limited by guarantee) or is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- a Community Benefit Society regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- a Community Interest Company (CIC) where the organisation continues to meet the Regulator of Community Interest Companies’ community interest test and asset lock provisions
- Eligible applicant organisations must be all of the following:
- have a registered address in Scotland that is rooted in the geographic community or community of interest they serve and operates on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of the community
- where involving and engaging with sections of their community or communities, this must be consistent with the National Standards for Community Engagement and the principles of the Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change
- Are solvent, hold a UK bank account, with annual accounts that have been approved by their management committee or board, or current projected annual accounts, and control over all project income and expenditure.
- Place-based messengers, for example:
For more information, visit Scottish Government.