HIGHLAND CROSS - the unique coast to coast midsummer charity duathlon
 

 

 

Guidance to Applicants for Funding

Each year Highland Cross receives requests for assistance that total more than it can support  Therefore after great consideration, it is clarifying its grant giving preferences.

 

Highland Cross

  • wishes to concentrate its funding on charities and incorporated organisations, regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator that seek to work for the benefit of the people of Highland who are disadvantaged through medical or social causes.

  • regards “Highland” as being the geographical area administered by Highland Council.

  • will only fund capital items.

  • will not consider applications for revenue costs such as running costs, expenses or staff costs.

  • will not consider applications for retrospective funding.

  • prefers not to fund second hand vehicles or equipment.  An applicant would have to have exceptionally strong reasons for such a purchase.

National charities are welcome to apply to Highland Cross for funding for capital items for projects that are of direct benefit to people of Highland.  However the panel will wish to examine why the funding is required where a charity has a major national fundraising operation. They will also require assurances that the assets will continue to be applied to the benefit of people of Highland for the foreseeable future and that there is a sustainable plan for their use in Highland should the national charity cease operations in Highland.

 

Highland Cross

  • will show preference to those charities who are the end user of the item(s) being funded.

  • will show less preference for charities who are raising funds for an item e.g. vehicle or building where that will be handed over to a third party that is not a charity especially if the third party is a statutory body.

  • will not fund minibuses or other vehicles for local authority schools.

  • is reluctant to donate to large collector funds where there is a long time scale to the realisation of a project. Highland Cross may contribute to such a project where they are being asked to fund the cost of a specific item to complete the project such as furnishings or equipment for a building.

 

The Application date

Applications must be with Highland Cross by 30 September each year.  

 

The Commitment from Charities nominated as Major Beneficiaries

Major beneficiaries are expected to contribute to the successful organisation of the event by contributing £1,000 towards the costs and providing 20 appropriate people to act as marshals.  

 

Applications for smaller amounts of assistance

Applications for smaller amounts of assistance should also be made by 30 September each year, and if surplus funds are available from that year's event, a distribution may be made thereafter. The smallest grant ever given was for just under £60.  Applicants for smaller sums are not required to pledge finance but Highland Cross will look to beneficiaries that receive larger sums from the “small” grants to support a future Highland Cross with “hands on” assistance on the day to help with marshalling duties.

 

Application process

Whether charities are looking for a small grant,  or to be a major beneficiary, applications must be made on the funding application form.


The charity application form can be downloaded here.

 

The completed form should be sent ideally by email to charities@highlandcross.co.uk with the required supporting documents to arrive by 30 September.   If sending by post, please send form and documents to Highland Cross Organisers, Redwood, 19 Culduthel Road, Inverness, IV2 4AA.

 

Please ensure that you use the current form.  Applications made on previous versions of the form will have to be rejected.

 

Charity Selection Process

All applications undergo an initial screening to ensure that they meet the basic eligibility criteria.  If successful at that stage, applications go to an Independent Selection Panel. The Organising Committee do not select the charities as a number of the Organisers are professionally involved with charity work in the Highlands.

 

Major Beneficiaries

Charities are chosen by an Independent Charity Selection Panel of three members who are quite   separate   from   the   Organising   Committee. Highland Cross will have four or five major beneficiaries each year.  The   Charity   Selection   Panel normally selects up to 6 potential major beneficiaries for interview which will take place in November or early December each year in Inverness. The Panel will then inform the Organisers of the nominated causes. 

 

The Independent Charity Selection Panel takes a number of criteria into consideration. A copy of the Panel Guidance can be obtained here.

 

Smaller Grants

Grants for smaller amounts are assessed on the basis of the application form. Where they consider it necessary the Independent Charity Selection Panel may seek additional information from applicants.

 

The following are statements from the charities that are to benefit from Highland Cross 2025

 

Badenoch and Strathspey Community ConnXions (BSCX)

Badenoch and Strathspey Community ConnXions (BSCX) is a registered charity that was set up in 1999 by the community for the community.  Our purpose is to strengthen our community by providing accessible transport and wellbeing opportunities.  Over the years we have grown our services based on local need and now offer social activities, assisted shopping, green health and a befriending service. 

We believe that transport is the building block to good health and wellbeing.  Our work prevents loneliness and isolation, and we provide accessible transport so people can attend health appointments, leisure activities and weekly shopping trips.   We work closely with many local groups and provide the transport to enable their activities to take place.

We have 25 years of experience in operating our services and are well regarded across the Community Transport Sector, winning UK Community Transport Association Provider of The Year in 2023.  We have service level agreements and a range of long-term funders. 

Our work directly supports around 400 people every year and has a social value of over £320k.  We have a small team of 8 P/T staff and 60 volunteers who all care deeply about our community.  

This funding will allow us to replace our accessible minibus which is now uneconomical to repair.  The new vehicle will be utilised straight away and will provide many years of accessible transport for our wider community.

 

Highland Homeless Trust t/a Gateway

Gateway values affording opportunities to vulnerable adults. Pioneering in approach, we work hard to provide creative, innovative solutions through collaboration and partnership. 

Gateway has invested significantly in purchasing a beautiful home to provide supported living for six people with learning disabilities.  The house is in the small hamlet of Upper Myrtlefield, Inverness, with extensive grounds allowing residents to enjoy the outdoors and create spaces of interest.  

Being a successful recipient of Highland Cross funds will enable the purchase of a vehicle that will suit the needs of our supported people, providing the last essential to this bespoke project.

Transport can be difficult to use for people with additional support needs. By promoting residents' well-being and in keeping with our values and principles, Gateway wants to ensure that the residents have many opportunities and independence to socialise and participate in the many varied community-based activities in and around Inverness. 

Through listening, we have learned that being active and out in the community can help those we support feel happier, included, and valued. We want people to be able to do what they enjoy and make their own choices about what they do, when they do it and who they spend their time with.

This vehicle will benefit the residents by improving their opportunities for further integration into the community, providing access to new events and places, and providing opportunities for learning through experience to maintain and improve long-term health outcomes.

Rag Tag and Textile Ltd

We are a charity on Skye providing support through creative craft workshops to people with mental illness or poor mental wellbeing. In this rural area where statutory services are often missing or overstretched our service is vital. The people we help are referred to us by healthcare professionals because they need our support.

Students receive training in a variety of crafts during tutor-led workshops, gaining self-esteem from producing items they keep or offer for sale in our attached charity shop. We aim to increase students’ confidence, motivation and wellbeing, to improve social skills, and to help them make friends and connections within the local community, where we often do joint work. We are recovery-focussed and provide opportunities and assistance for students to volunteer and, where appropriate, to move on to employment.

Many of our students struggle to reach us because public transport is poor, or because they need a door-to-door service owing to physical disabilities or anxiety issues. We provide a limited taxi service but the cost at over £1000 per month is unsustainable. We face the prospect of having to deny some students a service if we cannot find an alternative.

Our application for a minibus would solve this problem, and would also allow us to engage more widely with other community groups. It would allow us to take students to craft fairs, exhibitions of their own work, horticultural therapy sessions, and on social visits away from our home base – to enhance their mental wellbeing and to have fun.

Skye and Lochalsh Mental Health Association 

If successful in gaining this Highland Cross funding, we would purchase a hybrid minibus in order to provide equality of access to our well-established drop-in centre (Am Fasgadh) in Portree. We would use the minibus to provide transport for the people of South Skye and Lochalsh (SSL), at least twice a week and one weekend in 5, from home to Am Fasgadh and back again.

Living with mental illness is isolating, sometimes just managing to get up and dressed takes all your effort far less trying to get to a bus (that might not be there) to access support services.  The remote and rural nature of SSL means it is more difficult than in other areas to access services.  We have researched what our members need and want from our service.  Overwhelmingly, they have told us, what they want is to feel a bigger part of our community and to be able to attend Am Fasgadh in Portree.

Am Fasgadh is a safe place where we can meet, build relationships, and access a hot, home cooked meal daily. Running this minibus service will allow SSL members to access the same facilities and supports as the Portree and North Skye service users.

We would also use the minibus to provide improved access to trips for all our service users. Just because you have mental health issues that should not prevent you from having great experiences and making memories while still being supported.