The Encouraging and Supporting Grassroots Activity (ESGA) fund is being delivered by Age Scotland’s About Dementia project in partnership with the Scottish Government.

This fund exists to enable grassroots support for people with lived experience of dementia that helps them to live better in their community. This support can take many different forms, but the crucial element is that it is benefiting and involving people living with dementia and unpaid carers.

This is a limited fund with £310,000 of funding available and is only open to applicants in Scotland.

Groups can apply for awards of £5,000 – £20,000 for a 12-month period, starting by 1^st April 2025.

Groups can apply individually or as part of a collaborative bid with other partners. Applying as part of a collaborative bid can be a good way of demonstrating key partnerships that will strengthen the impact of the funded work.

Who can apply?

This fund is open to both new and established organisations and community groups within Scotland, including those with and without a constitution.

Communities can be geographic communities or communities of interest. You will need to show how your activities are being led by the voices of lived experience within this community and benefiting people at a local and everyday level.

We encourage applications from communities across Scotland and aim to support a diverse range of activities and communities through this funding. We particularly encourage applications from rural and remote communities, ethnic minority communities, and those supporting individuals with other protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

We ask that organisations and community groups have a bank account to manage the funding.  If submitting a collaborative bid in partnership with another group, we only require that one organisation is able to host the funds.

What will we fund?

We will fund groups who are delivering community-led support for people with lived experience of dementia, with an emphasis on activities where people with dementia and unpaid carers are involved and empowered.  This can take many different forms and will vary from community to community. This can include  Meeting Centres that are currently up and running. Groups looking for funding to establish a new Meeting Centre should contact Meeting Centres Scotland to discuss further.