Service Provider for the administration of the Community Capacity grants (3 Years)

Tender description

Crown Estate Scotland is seeking to appoint a service provider to provide administrative support and expert advice to Crown Estate Scotland in relation to the Community Capacity grants for the next 3 years. Crown Estate Scotland launched the Sustainable Communities Fund in 2020 as a three-year programme. The fund comprises two grant streams – Environment Grants available to our tenants; and the Community Capacity grants funding stream available for projects located within 5 miles of our four rural estates or within 5 miles of Scotland’s coastline. Following the success of the programme, we will be continuing it for another three years, making 300k GBP available each year for Community Capacity grants. Community capacity grants provide early-stage funding to social enterprises for projects which further sustainable development and regeneration, with grants of between 20k GBP and 50k GBP available. Information about previous years is available on our website: https://www.crownestatescotland.com/our-projects/sustainable-communities-fund The key tasks associated with this contract are as follows: - Preparation of application forms and guidance. - Review and update of grant objectives and eligibility criteria to incorporate Scottish Government community wealth building initiatives and requirements in relation to Fair Work First (https://www.gov.scot/publications/fair-work-first-guidance-2/pages/6/) - Management of application process including (not limited to): - advice and support to potential applicants in advance of application submission; - processing of applications; - assessment of applications; and - responses to successful and unsuccessful applicants. - Publicity of the scheme with key stakeholders. - Development of the governance process. - Set up and management of an external decision panel. - Monitoring and evaluation of awarded funds. It is important that the application process is clearly defined, open, transparent and fair. In previous years, the grant stream has been highly oversubscribed, with around 100 Expressions of Interest received. We expect the grant stream to continue to be oversubscribed and consideration should be given as to how best to manage this. The fund will be launched in August each year, beginning August 2023. The application window is expected to be open until November/December each year. Funding decisions will be made in March and successful applications announced in April each year.