Seedcorn Fund
Seedcorn Small Grants Fund: Collaborative Projects
Applications currently closed.
Our Collaborative Projects fund is now open for applications!
This fund will provide grants of up to £2,000 for two or more local community groups or organisations to connect, share learnings, and work in partnership on new climate projects or to further strengthen and build capacity to deliver climate action.
If you are applying as a single group, you can apply to our Single Groups Fund of up to £500.
Who can apply?
We are looking for partnership applications from grassroots organisations that are community-led. The lead partner in any Collaborative Project application must be a constituted Midlothian-based organisation with a bank account that is non-profit and not part of governmental agencies or local authorities. One of the other groups involved in the application may be based outside Midlothian, but only if this brings skills or experience not currently available here into the region.
If your group is not formally constituted, we encourage you to partner with a constituted group and send a joint application.
How does it work?
The groups involved can apply for up to £2,000 (including VAT).
The application deadline is now Sunday, 1st September 2024. Applications received after this date will not be considered. We will contact the lead partner in the application soon after this deadline to advise if the application has been successful or not.
You will be required to submit a short report by 14th March 2025.
For more detailed guidance and to submit an application, please click the buttons below.You can also find more information in our F.A.Q. below.
Applications are currently close. To stay up to date about future rounds, please subscribe to our newsletter.
You can find a version of the application in word format here, which you are welcome to email us at hub@midlothianclimateaction.org.uk.
To use this version you must first download the document and, under ‘File’, save it to your personal computer.
If you have any questions or require assistance completing the form, please get in touch with us through the email above or by phoning us at 0131 663 9471.
F.A.Q.
- anything that cannot be purchased and/or accounted for by 14 March 2025
- work on private or public property without the written consent of the owners
- salaries or staff wages
- statutory activities and activities that replace government funding (for example, we can only fund school activities that happen outside of normal teaching hours)
- loans, endowments or interest
- paying someone else to write your application
- political activities, including lobbying
- activities where a profit will be distributed for private gain
- VAT you can reclaim
- alcohol
- things you’ve already purchased
- items which will only benefit an individual, rather than the wider community
- religious activities (but we can fund religious organisations if their project benefits the wider community and does not include religious content).
The fund is designed for small collaborative projects involving two or more community groups and organisations and cannot be used to part-fund larger projects.
You don’t need to be members of the Midlothian Climate Action Network to apply, but each partner to the application within Midlothian must join as a member before we will authorise a grant payment. Membership is free, enables your group to have a say on the future direction of the Hub and Network, and ensures that your group is informed of the Hub and Network’s activities and opportunities. The application process is simple via the easy online application
The report should set out the purposes to which the grant was used, the learning and skills gained from the partnership project, and the roles played by each party to the application. It should include a breakdown of the spending and associated receipts (if applicable).
The report should be accompanied by photographs demonstrating the joint project in action. Please ensure that you have written permission to submit any photographs, as these will be used to create case studies to share on our website and social media.
- Our ethos is sustainability, please consider this when designing your projects
- Physical goods and products should be locally sourced, locally made, recycled or reusable whenever possible subject always to their safety and the safety of those who use them. This is the responsibility of the applicants.
- Please ensure that you have sourced the best prices for these before making your application
- The cost of sustainable public transport travel can be included. However, we would ask you to consider making an application to the Community Learning Exchange (CLE) administered by the Scottish Community Alliance for any collaborative project involving a community group any distance from Midlothian (that is, not within a neighbouring local authority). The CLE exists to support local community groups to connect and share peer-to-peer learning across the entirety of Scotland.
