Funding boost for community scheme offering interest-free loans

November 25th 2021

A successful loan scheme which has helped scores of Shetland community groups get their special projects over the line is to be enhanced with a pot of up to £1.5m to call upon.

Funding boost for community scheme offering interest-free loans

A successful loan scheme which has helped scores of Shetland community groups get their special projects over the line is to be enhanced with a pot of up to £1.5m to call upon.

Shetland Charitable Trust’s (SCT) Capital Works Bridging Loan scheme has been running successfully for almost 12 years, giving out nearly 50 interest-free short-term loans worth over £4m.

The loans help groups avoid cashflow problems when projects have to be completed before grants attracted from outside Shetland are released by external funding bodies, such as governments, the National Lottery and the EU. Around £16m in grants has been levered into Shetland as a result of the provision of the SCT loans.

Recent recipients include the Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary, loaned £366,000, and the Community Development Company of Nesting, which borrowed almost £176,000.

Currently, two large new projects are being considered which require loans totalling around £900,000. As a result, SCT trustees agreed on Thursday to raise the maximum fund pot from £1m to £1.5m to ensure there would still be spare funding available for other projects that may come along during next year.

SCT chair Dr Andrew Cooper said: “This really is an excellent scheme which has quietly helped so many community groups achieve their ambitious goals. With various new sources of funds coming on stream, we want to ensure that Shetland is best-placed to make the most of these valuable opportunities.”

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For more information, contact John Robertson on 07775 407 796 or email noostmedia@gmail.com

Testimonials

The funding COPE Ltd receives from the Shetland Charitable Trust supports us in many ways. It allows us to develop and maintain a strong foundation to our core business and assists us to provide on-going employment skill development opportunities to people with disabilities living within Shetland. COPE Ltd highly values the support provided to our organisation by The Shetland Charitable Trust.

“The substantial grant made to us by Shetland Charitable Trust every year allows us to provide first-class facilities and dedicated staff to underpin sporting success among people of all ages and abilities in the islands.”

Having this core funding from the Charitable Trust means that we can use that money where we need it at any given time. It's multi-year funding which really takes the pressure off. To have the funding to keep going is really important as it is improving the lives of disabled folk in Shetland.

The funding that we get from the Charitable Trust pays for part of staff support and matching with other funders. Without local funders we wouldn't have national funders, and without either of those funders, we wouldn't be able to do this, so funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust is incredibly important.

The funding Shetland Arts gets from Shetland Charitable Trust is about making sure the organisation can thrive, access other funds, and deliver on behalf of the community of Shetland. Our funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust really helps us with our conversations with national funders because it shows that we're working on behalf of what the local objectives and priorities are.

The Access to Leisure scheme was introduced to allow folk to be able to get access to classes and activities for a lower cost. I feel that the SRT play a critical role in every community across Shetland and that's all down to the funding of the Shetland Charitable Trust that we're able to maintain that.

Unpaid carers do an amazing job looking after people 24/7 in their own homes, keeping them living at home safely, and they really need help to do that. Thanks to the funding from Shetland Charitable Trust, we've been able to employ a deputy manager, recruit more care attendants, and provide overnights. We're also really grateful for the funding because it means that everybody can get the service for free.