The two main areas of grant-making of The McGlashan Charitable Trust are arts organisations and postgraduate education in Scotland. We are a small Trust, making total annual awards of around £150,000 each year. It is our intention to prioritise supporting people facing socioeconomic disadvantage and projects tackling socioeconomic disadvantage.
Applications should:
- Be from arts or cultural charities based in Scotland and;
- Tackle socioeconomic disadvantage, or create more equitable access to the arts across society
What are Trustees looking for?
We want to support arts organisations that remove socioeconomic barriers to participation in culture or educational activities.
In all cases we want to support work that is focused on tackling socioeconomic disadvantage. This means we are looking for activities that help to tackle unequal access to, and participation in, the arts, based on socioeconomic background.
We expect to transition to a grant portfolio that has a smaller number of funded organisations but with higher grant levels. Grants will be more flexible.
How much can I apply for and over what period?
- We will provide funding for a single year and for up to five years – we may even extend beyond this if a strong case is made
- We will make annual grants of not less that £1,000; annual grants are not likely to exceed £10,000 – total organisational awards from the Trust in any one year will be c.£75,000
What is your policy on supporting core costs?
The Trust is willing to support all core costs if the applicant can demonstrate their primary focus is tackling socioeconomic disadvantage. For organisations undertaking projects in this area, but whose primary focus is not socioeconomic disadvantage, we will make a reasonable contribution to core costs, in addition to the project costs applied for.
What is the application process?
- We invite initial applications outlined on no more than two sides of A4 with a separate project or organisation budget – we also request:
- Your latest annual accounts, explaining any significant movement in reserves and your reserves policy
- Your latest management accounts, explaining key variances
- There are two submission deadlines annually, 30 April and 31 October. The next deadline for applications is 30 April 2025.
- We have a strong preference to receive all applications digitally via email and not as paper copies sent by post. Not only does this help in terms of sustainability, it allows us to log and process your application more efficiently. If this poses a problem however, please do get in touch via the below email address.
- We may invite will some applicants to meet Trustees to discuss their applications – we want open, collaborative, and long-term relationships with our grantees.
- We will write to inform all applicants of the outcome of their application promptly (usually by the start of December for 31 October applicants, and by the start of June for 30 April applicants). **Please note that applicants for the 31 October 2024 round will be unlikely to hear the outcome until just prior to Christmas 2024.**
What is the reporting process for successful organisations?
We would like to maintain an open dialogue throughout the grant period. We ask that organisations submit a simple annual report and budget appropriate for grant size. We are open to pausing or changing awards if projects change – these requests can come at any time.
What if I have further questions?
If you have any questions about these changes, or if you’d like to speak to a Trustee or our Administrator in advance of making an application, please contact the Trust’s Administrator Thea de Joode by email: info@mcglashantrust.org