The types of project the Foundation will either support, or decline to consider, are described below.
The Foundation supports projects that:
- have as their objectives the recognition, celebration and promotion of Scottish cultural heritage
- Make their outputs available to the wider community, with preference being given to projects that involve the community in them.
- promote music and performing arts through the development of Scottish music in all its forms, including the teaching of bagpipes and drums
- organise Scottish cultural events such as highland gatherings, ceilidhs, public displays and celebrations
- support writing and other media to provide accounts of, and to promote, Scottish culture and history
- produce and use Scottish cultural items, including musical instruments, national dress and tartans
- arrange visits and tours by persons engaged in the recognition of Scottish cultural heritage
- support the collection and recognition of books, records, photographs and other documents relating to Scottish heritage and culture at schools.
The Foundation declines to consider applications for projects that involve:
- general fund raising
- retrospective funding – projects which are already underway or which will start before to the date indicated in our online application information.
- recurrent expenditure for which there is no future provision
- capital or endowment funds established to provide a corpus for institutions
- auspicing (where an ineligible organisation applies to the Foundation via an eligible organisation). The organisation applying must be the one that will run the program or project
- applications for projects that the Foundation has previously declined
- applications from organisations that have not successfully acquitted previous grants from the Foundation
- sport, recreation or social activities for their own sake.
Project areas that the Foundation has supported include: