Funding

£86.2 million of convergence payments to farmers and crofters are now underway.

Tourism businesses in the Scottish Borders and Midlothian are embarking on a new marketing campaign designed to revolutionise the area’s visitor economy.

Scotland Starts Here, a travel inspiration website has been created to raise the area’s profile as a year-round tourism destination as well as encouraging more visitors to the Scottish Borders and Midlothian. The website will be supported by a digital marketing campaign including mobile app, podcasts, eBooks, videos, blogs and social media advertising.

The Dornoch Area Community Interest Company (DACIC) has become the new owner of the former Dornoch Police Station following a successful Asset Transfer Request from Police Scotland.

The transfer which included a 5% discount from market valuation in acknowledgement of the significant community benefit that will ensue from the community ownership of the building. The acquisition was funded by the Scottish Land Fund.

Crowdfund Scotland Workshop | South Lanarkshire

The Crowdfund Scotland team are running a presentation on Tuesday 10th March in association with their partners at LEADER.

This will be an introductory session suitable for anyone who wants to find out more about this method of fundraising and the potential uses for local projects.

Topics to be covered:

  • What is crowdfunding?

  • Introducing Crowdfund Scotland

  • What are the benefits of crowdfunding?

  • What makes a good crowdfunding project?

  • Three steps to success

Crowdfund Scotland Interactive Workshop | Midlothian

The Crowdfund Scotland team are running a workshop on Saturday 28th March in association with their partners at Tyne Esk LEADER.

This will be a session suitable for anyone who wants to find out more about this method of fundraising and the potential uses for local projects. This session includes interactive elements, where you will be guided through how to build your own crowdfunding project page. Please bring with you a mobile device you can connect to the internet.

Projects and businesses across the country have been awarded funding from the Connect Local Regional Food Fund.

Twenty-one projects will share £95,550 from the fund to promote locally sourced food and drink. Projects include the Crail Food Festival, Lerwick fish market opening pop-up market and South Lanarkshire Food and Drink Week.

Rural projects that protect the environment and mitigate the impact of climate change will share £34 million.

A total of 472 businesses will benefit from the latest award of Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) funding, which promotes environmentally friendly land management practices and looks to protect and enhance Scotland’s natural heritage.

This brings the total committed to rural businesses under AECS since 2015 to more than £211 million, benefiting almost 3,000 applicants.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said:

Crowdfund Scotland Workshops | Greater Renfrewshire & Inverclyde

Interested in finding out more about crowdfunding?

The Crowdfund Scotland team are running a series of workshops throughout the year with their partners at Greater Renfrewshire & Inverclyde LEADER. 

The Scottish Land Fund has awarded £1,586,398 to 11 community ownership projects.

A community development company on the island of Colonsay, population 135, has been awarded £390,000 to buy land to build affordable housing and to create a site for affordable business units. The money will be used to buy two areas of land around the settlement of Scalasaig as part of a project to build homes for island residents.

The Tesco Bags of Help Fund is now open for applications.

Community groups, schools, charities, local authorities and not for profits can all apply for grants of up to £2,000 for projects that bring benefits to communities. This includes:

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