The Robertson Trust has fully returned to funding after pausing its programmes last year.

The Scottish grantmaker said it had completed the final phase of its return to funding with the launch of a Community Spaces fund, which will provide multi-year grants of between £5,000 and £20,000 a year. 

The grantmaker paused its programmes for five months last year, in a bid to sharpen the focus of its funds to better achieve its strategic aims. 

During the pause, the funder implemented several changes to improve its offer for charities, including increasing the grant amounts available through its transport and small grants programmes.

A spokesperson for The Robertson Trust said: “The purpose of this pause was to look at where we can have the biggest impact within our themes and ensure we are clear externally about what’s in and out of scope for funding.

“The opening of our Community Spaces Grants today marks the end of our phased return, although we will continue to embed cycles of learning and continuous improvement across our work.”

The spokesperson added that the trust will review how it considers applications to its Nurturing Relationships funding theme after it communicates decisions on applications made to its Open Call, which closed last month.

Its Community Spaces fund, which was launched yesterday (12 February) and aims to support local communities experiencing poverty and trauma in Scotland, will offer funding of between £5,000 and £20,000 per year for up to three years.

Registered charities with an annual income of between £30,000 and £500,000 can apply to the fund at any time, with applications being reviewed on a rolling basis with no set closing date.

Grants will be provided to support the costs of community centres, hubs or anchor organisations that are delivering or hosting a range of services and activities to meet their geographic communities’ needs. 

Applicants must be able to show how the services they deliver relate to preventing or reducing poverty or trauma for local people, as well as how they reach out to and remove barriers for individuals in their community who are at higher risk of experiencing poverty.

Applicants must also have at least three unconnected trustees on their charity’s board, have a bank account in their charity’s name, have a safeguarding policy if working with young or vulnerable people, and have recent, independently examined annual accounts – unless they are a newly registered charity.

The grantmaker said it aimed to give applicants a decision within eight to 10 weeks of receiving their application.

Applications will be considered alongside the funder’s other open, responsive grant schemes.

In 2023/24, The Robertson Trust made 627 awards through its funds, totalling £19.6m.