Current status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for project funding its Voluntary Issues Unit has received since the announcement of the Volunteering Strategy on 11 May 2004; how many of these applications have been successful; how much funding has been disbursed under the strategy, and what the criteria are for funding decisions.
To be eligible for financial assistance from the Scottish Executive Voluntary Issues Unit (VIU), voluntary organisations must demonstrate that the activities for which funding is sought meet one or more of the following:
Are consistent with the aims and objectives of the Scottish Executive;
help develop the voluntary sector’s organisational, physical, financial and intellectual capacity;
support the strategic needs of the voluntary sector, as identified in the volunteering strategy;
help the voluntary sector deliver the outcomes of the volunteering strategy, and
impact at the national level.
There is no financial provision specifically designated for implementing the volunteering strategy. Implementation of the strategy is being supported from within the £19.7 million available for distribution to the voluntary sector by the VIU.
Eleven voluntary organisations have submitted formal bids since 11 May for grant funding from the resources available for distribution by the VIU. Of these, one organisation has been awarded grant funding of £95,000 per annum. in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. A second organisation has been awarded a grant of £145,651 in 2005-06. A further five bids from voluntary organisations are under consideration and four organisations have been informed that their requests for financial assistance have been turned down because they did not meet the criteria set out above.