Apply: Public Engagement Fund 2024-25 (Community Fund)

Yes, it doesn’t matter if you were successful or unsuccessful during your last application, you can apply again either way. How successful your past application was will not affect how successful your application is on this occasion.

Applications will be scored on a 5-point scale per scored answer. The answers that will be scored are highlighted in the application form and guidance. However, we will also score and select based on project diversity, to ensure support is given for a range of different projects.

If successful, you will be awarded funding in January 2025. Projects can run for up to a year. So, you have until January 2026 to spend the funding you receive. Your project does not have to last the full year. Your project start later or finish earlier than the funding period, without impact on your application.

We will consider applications where further funding is needed from elsewhere. However, if successful, funding will not be released until your other funding is secured.

No, all applications that involve or engage the public with data will be considered.

Absolutely! In fact, we actively encourage working in partnerships with other organisations. We only ask that you do not partner with any religious or political groups, as we will be unable to fund these projects.

You can usually find associated contact information for an organisation on their website. We encourage you to try and establish a relationship before you apply. If you are seeking to work with an organisation we are closely linked with we may be able to help you. However, you would need to be honest about this within your application, so that we know if we would be able to help you ahead of providing any funding.

In terms of this fund, we define a community organisation as a group, company, charity, or equivalent whose primary role is to engage or work with local communities or organisations. We will not fund:

• Individuals
• Standard for-profit organisations
• Organisations with an income of over £ 1 million per year
• Schools, universities, colleagues or any equivalent statutory bodies – though we can fund a community organisation that works with them.
• Organisations that do not have a bank account
• Any organisation driven by religious or political beliefs 

This fund supports projects which focus on involving and engaging communities with data. We will not fund research projects that do not involve or engage the public. The project can focus on any community you like and could include a range of activity ideas including but not limited to:

• Involving the public in a workshop discussing a specific data topic
• Engaging the public about data at events
• Partnering with other organisations or community groups to develop an engagement project 

To see what we have funded before, take a look at our funded projects page.

The fund has £30,000 available to spend. We are offering a minimum of £1,000 up to a maximum of £10,000 of funding per project.

We are happy to consider any budget items related to your public engagement project, as long as they are feasible and in line with the fund objectives. Items you may wish to include in your budget could include:

• Staff and freelancer pay
• Activity development
• Rental or event space
• Expenses – such as food, travel, and accommodation
• Equipment
• Participant payments - You can align to Scottish Government guidance or use your own guidelines if you have them 

All items budgeted for must support the engagement activity. Successful applicants will receive 100% of the funding they apply for. 

We would also like to know about funding covered by your own organisation or other funding that will be used to support this engagement activity. This will help us check the feasibility of your project. 

Applications are open from Monday 2 September, and close on Monday 14 October at 17:00. You can apply at any point within this time frame but your application must be submitted before the closure time and date.

Panel decisions will be sent out starting Monday 11 November. If you are successful, you will be given a letter of acceptance to sign and feedback on your application. We ask that you return the letter as soon as possible, so that we can organise the next steps. If you are unsuccessful, you will still receive feedback which we hope will support your future applications, whether at RDS or elsewhere.

If you can’t find the answer to your question here, please email us at engage@researchdata.scot