Funding
Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund For Adults (Year 5&6)
Year 5 and 6 of the Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund opens for applications on Friday 19th September 2025.
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults aims to support grassroots community-based initiatives that promote and develop good mental health and wellbeing and/or mitigate and protect against the impact of distress and mental ill health within the adult population (aged 16 or over).
Specifically, the Fund aims to:
Tackle mental health inequalities through supporting a range of ‘at risk’ groups.
Address priority issues of social isolation and loneliness, suicide prevention and poverty and inequality with a particular emphasis on responding to the cost-of-living crisis and support to those facing socio-economic disadvantage.
Support small ‘grass roots’ community groups and organisations to deliver such activities.
Provide opportunities for people to connect with each other, build trusted relationships and revitalise communities.
This fund has a strong emphasis on collaboration, partnerships, capacity building and the development of creative projects that can work at a very grassroots level, together with local people.
CVO East Ayrshire has been appointed by the Scottish Government to distribute funding in East Ayrshire and ensure the fund has a strong focus on prevention and early intervention and aims to support grass roots community groups in tackling mental health inequalities. We are also asked to encourage organisations and projects to work together and to support community-based organisations with suitable easy to understand processes.
Year 5 and Year 6
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults will open for applications on Friday 19 September 2025. The fund will be split across three grant streams:
Micro grants up to £2,000
Small grants up to £5,000
Large grants up to £15,000
CVOEA will welcome applications to the Micro Grants Programme for single year projects. The Small and Large Grants Programme offers the option to apply for single or two years funding.
This year, the fund is part of the Scottish Government’s Fairer Funding Pilot, offering multi-year support to help local organisations plan for the long term and deliver sustainable impact.
Year 6 of the fund is subject to Scottish Government budget approval and the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Grant Offer Letter grant offer letter states:
“The value of the grant payable in Year 2 is an indicative confirmation and cannot be taken as a guarantee. All indicative funding commitments are subject to the outcome of any spending review by the Scottish Government and approval of the annual Budget Bills by the Scottish Parliament during this period.”
Workshops
CVOEA will be running a series of workshops to support groups applying to all three Grant Programmes:
Submitting An Application Micro Grants Programme: Monday 20th October 12.30pm – 2.30pm, WG13, 13 – 15 West George Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 3GZ
Submitting An Application Small Grants Programme: Monday 3rd November 10am – 12pm, WG13, 13 – 15 West George Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 3GZ
Submitting An Application Large Grants Programme: Monday 3rd November 1.30pm – 3.30pm, WG13, 13 – 15 West George Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 3GZ
The deadline for applications is as follows:
Micro Grants: Monday 24th November 2025, 4pm
Small Grants: Monday 26th January 2026, 4pm
Large Grants: Monday 26th January 2026, 4pm
The Applicant Guidance provides more information, please read the document in full before applying.
You can download the Micro Grants, Small Grants & Large Grants application forms below:
