A Record-Breaking Year of Grant Making

n 2025, Bank of Scotland Foundation delivered a bold and sector‑shaping shift in Scotland’s funding landscape. Guided by its five‑year strategy, Building a Brighter Future for Scotland, the Foundation responded to one of the Third Sector’s most urgent challenges: the chronic instability created by short‑term, restricted, low‑flexibility funding. At a time when inflation, escalating demand and funder risk aversion threatened the survival of essential community services, the Foundation introduced a financially rigorous, high‑trust funding model designed to move charities from crisis management to long‑term sustainability.

Grounded in sector evidence and reinforced by disciplined financial governance, the model combined multi‑year stability, unrestricted investment, and proportionate assurance - proving that high‑trust and high‑assurance finance can coexist to powerful effect. In its second year of delivery, the Foundation awarded its largest annual investment to date: £6.8 million in multi‑year, unrestricted funding to 126 grassroots charities tackling Scotland’s most complex social issues, from hunger and homelessness to mental health, addiction and family breakdown. This funding protected core services, enabled workforce stability, reduced administrative burden and gave charity leaders the confidence to plan ahead.

The Foundation achieved this while maintaining exemplary financial standards. Its disciplined approach also enabled agile responses to national crises, reinforcing its reputation as a trusted, strategic partner to the sector.

Delivered by a highly skilled three‑person finance and grants team, this model has set a new benchmark for funding practice in Scotland—demonstrating that strategic clarity, trust and courageous financial leadership can strengthen communities at scale and drive lasting sector change.