Faithful Welcome is a partnership project between Faith in Community Scotland and Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees. We aim to support Scotland’s faith communities to welcome refugees and asylum seekers and enable them to be an integral part of community life, wherever they are coming from and whatever the reason.

Faithful Welcome invites people from Scotland’s rich diversity of faith traditions to be part of creating a more welcoming and inclusive society for newcomers and play an integral role in supporting two-way integration. 

People seeking refuge in Scotland have so much to contribute to our society and faith groups have a huge role to play in supporting them. Meaningful two-way integration takes place through the building of relationships and having some resources to organise events, offer hospitality and support people to try out ideas. Small amounts of money can make a big difference in getting these ideas off the ground.

Grants of up to £500 are available for local action around the following themes:

·      Offering hospitality (eg costs of community meals and social events bringing people together)

·      Easing integration (eg costs of interpreting services; running language classes)

·      Enabling participation (eg skill-sharing activities such as gardening, sewing, cooking; providing costs of bus passes for travel)

Who can apply and what’s the process?

Local faith groups registered as charities in Scotland, whose annual income is normally lower than £80,000, and who normally employ no more than 2 full-time equivalent staff members.  Please note that we prioritise our grant awards towards groups with minimal resources. If you’ve already received a small grant, it’s not possible to apply for a second grant until a year later and we would normally expect this to be for a different purpose.

To apply, please click here to use the online form on our website.  You will be asked to describe:

• Your organisation and how it defines itself as a ‘local faith group’.
• Which theme you are focusing on, how the grant will be used, who will make it happen and what difference you hope to make in your community. Please be as specific as you can, for example, if it’s an event, give the dates/details; if it’s about skill-sharing, describe the kinds activities envisaged and for how many people)

If you would like to apply, please click here first to read the conditions of award and then click below to use the online form.