Since launching our ten-year strategy in 2020, we’ve been committed to building continuous learning and improvement into everything we do.
Through regular data and evidence analysis and working closely with our partners, we aim to maximise the impact of our resources in reducing poverty and associated trauma in Scotland. This is our mission, and we recognise it may at times require us to refine our approaches.
This commitment has shaped the evolution of our Emotional Wellbeing and Relationships (EWR) theme into Nurturing Relationships, which has a sharper, more preventative focus on the vital role of relationships in tackling poverty and related trauma across Scotland.
Following an initial pause and subsequent pilot, we will now open to applications for the theme within our Large and Small Awards on 30th September. This marks the final piece of our funding jigsaw, with applications having opened within our other funds – Wee Grants, Community Spaces and Community Transport – earlier in the year.
What informed the change
EWR was a central theme of the opening years of our 2020–30 strategy and quickly accounted for most of our funding. While it supported valuable work, analysis, coupled with the significant increase in demand for our funding, showed a more focused approach was needed to maximise impact.
Nurturing Relationships therefore aims to make the connection between poverty and trauma clearer and shift towards preventative action. Informed by insights from other funders, funded organisations, and existing evidence - including the Independent Care Review and Hard Edges Scotland - it supports work that helps break the cycle of persistent poverty and intergenerational trauma, addressing the impacts of trauma within families and for individuals facing severe and multiple disadvantage, where poverty is a significant factor.
Earlier this year, we tested the refined theme through a time-limited Open Call, awarding £3,230,000 to 39 organisations whose work strongly aligned with the aims of Nurturing Relationships. Find out more about these awards here.
What we’re looking for
We’ll consider applications on a rolling basis for work that focuses on:
- Preventative support for families experiencing poverty (including children and their caregivers) to help build and maintain strong relationships and reduce the risk of intergenerational trauma.
- Whole-family support for families in or on the edges of care, addressing the impacts of persistent poverty and trauma—including services for young people with experience of care who are not in a family setting.
- Crisis support at the point of family breakdown, including support for women and children experiencing domestic abuse. We’re especially keen to support:
Services for families on low incomes, particularly in areas which experience financial inequalities or remote and rural communities
Services which also help build financial security
Services offering whole-family support - Recovery and restorative approaches to address experiences of homelessness, substance use, and/or contact with the criminal justice system. We are particularly interested in holistic approaches that also address people’s financial and wider needs, either directly or in partnership with specialist providers.
Find out more
Full details of the Nurturing Relationships theme and how to apply will be published on our website on 30 September.
If your work focuses on children and young people’s mental health or on broader gender-based violence (rather than domestic abuse specifically), which were priorities under our previous EWR theme, please click here to find out more about our shift in focus.