Regional Community Benefit Fund

Projects must support at least one of the following themes:

Theme 1. Skills and employability

Projects will have a focus on improving people’s skills and/or their employability.

The fund will prioritise projects that:

1. Help young people to gain skills or move into employment
2. Support apprenticeships and work-based learning
3. Develop skills relevant to future industries and emerging employment opportunities
4. Have a strong link to qualifications or employment outcomes
5. Are focussed on inclusion and supporting people who face barriers to employment
6. Address shortages of key skills by focusing on well-evidenced regional priorities

The fund is not looking to support projects that:

1. Support beneficiaries of primary school age or younger

Theme 2. Heritage and culture

Projects will have a focus on heritage and/or culture

The fund will prioritise projects that:

1. Focus on a physical place such as a heritage site, museum or natural environment that connects people to the area
2. Explore the heritage connections between multiple communities of place or interest (i.e. regional heritages; diasporic heritages; shared heritages linked to natural features)
3. Help protect and celebrate community identity through arts, language or music

The fund is not looking to support projects that:

1. Are focussed on local community centres or community hubs
2. Are solely focussed on the purchase of land

Theme 3: Alleviating fuel poverty

Projects will influence positive change for individuals and communities facing, or at risk of, fuel poverty.  

The fund will prioritise projects that:

1. Improve the energy efficiency of homes
2. Focus on the rural and island communities most affected by fuel poverty
3. Focus on developing solutions for those at the highest risk of fuel poverty due to financial hardship
4. Explore new approaches linked to research, or deliver demonstration projects capable of wider replication

The fund is not looking to support projects that:

1. Fund the direct costs of energy consumption
2. Provide traditional advice services
3. Are community energy initiatives generating electricity for sale

In addition, applications will not be considered if they fall under the following categories:

• The advancement of religion or politics (including requests to support the core activities of religious or political groups)
• Direct costs of energy consumption
• The repayment of loans or payment of debts
• Trips abroad
• Costs already incurred or activities which will take place before a funding decision has been made (retrospective funding)
• Payments towards areas generally understood to be the primary responsibility of a statutory authority

A Regional Fund project is one that benefits more than one community and has wider impact.

This could be one of the following:

• A project that delivers across multiple local authority areas in the network area
• A project that delivers across the majority of a local authority area
• A project that delivers in only one part of a larger local authority area (i.e. Caithness in Highland or Bute and Cowal in Argyll and Bute)
• A project on a larger island can be considered regional if the benefits are felt across the island. For smaller islands, benefits should be delivered across multiple islands.
• A project that is specific to one area initially but demonstrates significant potential to be replicated across the north of Scotland, bringing benefits to a larger area.

£2 million will be available in this funding round. You can apply for a minimum of £40,000 and maximum of £500, 000 for your project. 

We can fund up to 100% of a project, or we can part fund along with other funders. 

Our fund can be used as one of several funding sources including other SSE group community benefit funds.

Funding is available for both revenue and capital costs. Where necessary, full cost recovery is also available, meaning that you are able to apply for all your organisation’s costs, including the direct costs of your project and associated overheads.  

SSEN Transmission are a Real Living Wage funder, meaning that any salary costs applied for must be the Real Living Wage as a minimum. If you are considering applying for multi-year funding, please ensure that any uplifts in salary costs, due to inflation, are taken into account. 

To support robust financial planning, applicants are encouraged to include a contingency within their overall project costs. Any use of contingency should be clearly justified and evidenced.

This fund is currently accepting applications. Applications must be submitted through the Community Investment Portal. The portal ensures all applicant data is held securely and makes it easier for groups to apply for and manage grants.

If you are starting a new application, you can apply here: https://ssecommunity.my.site.com/s/eligibility?fid=a1bTu0000051Mrd

To continue an existing application please login here: Login

To prepare for your application, you can download the application guidance which includes a sample application form. It has all the questions you will be asked during the online application process, and guidance on how to answer them.

Download the guidance

Applications will be assessed on:

1. How well your proposal fits with the fund themes and priorities
2. How well the application delivers against the following assessment criteria:

Assessment criteria

• Value for money – Providing evidence that the project has a high impact for the amount invested e.g. project outcomes, number of beneficiaries.
• Community involvement – Evidence that the community/communities and relevant stakeholders have been engaged in the development and implementation of a project, e.g. surveys, service user involvement, community consultations, open days, letters of support, volunteering days, etc.
• Financial sustainability – Evidencing that a project will continue beyond the funding period, or where this is not possible, defining an end point for the project and how it will be responsibly closed.
• Community demand/need – Evidence of an identified need and gap in local provision, e.g. Community Action Plan/Local Place Plan, service user surveys, research, SIMD data etc.
• Deliverability – Evidence that the project has been clearly thought through, that the required resources will be available to deliver the project (for example, through bringing in match-funding or loan finance) and that any partners needed to deliver the project are already committed to being involved. Contingency costs can also be included in your application. Whilst match funding is not a requirement, having other funding sources in place can provide supporting evidence of the viability of a project.

Funding decisions are made by an independent panel. The regional panel is made up of four independent panellists and one SSEN Transmission representative.

Panellists are selected through an open recruitment process, and all have a record in supporting communities and local people.

The Chair of the regional panel is Peter Peacock, former Scottish Government Minister and Convenor of Highland Council. The remaining panel members are: 

• Louisa Macdonell (Vice Chair) 
• Lucy Conway 
• Nicholas Gubbins 
• Christianna Logan (SSEN Transmission representative) 

Information about the funding we have awarded to date can be found in the past funding awards section on this page, and in our annual reporting. 

You can also explore our case studies page to learn more about projects that have received community benefit funding. 

UHI Inverness – £352,000 
The creation of a state-of-the-art Sustainable Construction Centre in Inverness, delivering high-quality training to address critical skills shortages across the Highlands and support the region’s transition to net-zero. 

North East Scotland College – £150,000 
Investment in essential equipment for Aberdeen’s new Energy Transition Skills Hub — the first dedicated educational facility in Scotland designed to meet the growing demand for energy transition training. 

Growing2gether – £55,591 
A transformative early-intervention programme supporting vulnerable and at-risk young people. Through mentoring and youth-led social action, the initiative aims to enhance mental health, boost educational attainment, and build vital life skills. 

Regional Screen Scotland – £350,000 
Funding for a new mobile cinema, bringing high-quality film experiences to over 40 remote communities across the Highlands and Islands. This project aims to foster cultural engagement and combat rural isolation. 

Fèis Rois – £181,638 
The Fèis Rois programme ensures people of all ages can engage with, learn, and enjoy traditional music and the Gaelic language through a diverse range of activities across Ross & Cromarty and Scotland. 

UHI North, West and Hebrides – £110,000 
An innovative project creating digital, place-based heritage experiences to showcase and preserve unrecognised archaeological sites in Barra and Harris. 

Orkney Construction Training Group – £75,471 
A collaborative project developing a modular manufacturing toolkit and two demonstrator modules, equipping community organisations with the resources to help address the rural housing crisis. 

THAW Orkney – £295,322 
Development of a flexible whole-house retrofit pathway, providing property upgrades to fuel-poor households across a subset of Orkney’s outer isles, to help improve energy efficiency and reduce costs. 

North East Scotland Retrofit Hub – £88,000 
Strengthening retrofitting capacity in the North East of Scotland by training construction professionals, raising community awareness, and providing in-depth retrofit assessments to improve energy efficiency in homes. 

Tighean Innse Gall - £393,883

Theme: Fuel Poverty

To deliver a community-led project reducing fuel poverty by developing housing archetypes and affordable decarbonisation pathways, empowering Outer Hebrides homes with practical, tailored energy efficiency solutions.

Changeworks - £169,666

Theme: Fuel Poverty

To deliver a programme for alleviating fuel poverty for park home residents through engagement, capacity-building and practical, scalable support, creating lasting impact for an overlooked community. 

Aberdeen Cyrenians - £149,362

Theme: People

To establish NorthBridge, a welcoming collaboration hub where individuals facing redundancy find structure, community, and tailored support for jobs, skills, entrepreneurial opportunities and wellbeing during transition.

Farmer Jones Academy c.i.c trading as For You Training - £149,180

Theme: People

To support a Transformational Community Innovation Campus for education and tourism, creating sustainable communities for Tain and the Scottish Highlands. 

Growing2gether - £199,379

Theme: People

To expand Growing2gether in Partnership: building the mental health/life skills/qualifications of disadvantaged young people to create leaders who contribute positively to communities. 

Fisheries Management Scotland - £149,949

Theme: People

To deliver the ‘Working with Rivers’ project which will enable seven rivers and fisheries trusts to run paid training placements. The trainees will gain a range of new nature-based skills, whilst contributing to river restoration projects that will benefit nature and rural communities. 

Rock Trust - £201,217

Theme: People

To establish Future Builders Plus: A new Youth Housing Hub in Perth providing specialist employability, housing and wellbeing support for young people facing homelessness. 

Helm Training - £49,934

Theme: People

To deliver the ‘Anchors Up’ programme which supports disadvantaged Dundee youth through a clear journey: one-to-one guidance, group learning, and progression into employability or vocational training, building confidence and brighter futures. 

Enable Scotland (Leading the Way) - £226,993

Theme: People

To deliver the ‘One Digital’ programme which provides accessible, accredited digital skills training for disabled people, tackling digital exclusion and supporting individuals to participate, build confidence and progress towards employment. 

New Start Highland - £95,327

Theme: People

To support the Highland Hospitality & Cookery School which will equip disadvantaged and excluded people with skills, training and qualifications for employment in the Highland hospitality sector. 

Eden Court Highlands - £65,742

Theme: Place

To deliver the Film Futures creative programme for young refugees and asylum seekers aged 16-24 in the Highlands to build community connections and increase employability skills. 

Dundee Industrial Heritage SCIO - £40,000

Theme: Place

To support a project to transform Discovery Point, home of the Dundee-built Royal Research Ship Discovery, for the next generation of learners, visitors, and communities. 

Islands Book Trust - £141,000

Theme: Place

To establish a shared digital hub that builds skills, preserves island heritage, supports & strengthens small volunteer-led heritage groups and expands online access and book sales.

Comann Eachdraidh Eirisgeidh - £340,895

Theme: Place

To redevelop the former Eriskay school, a historic building steeped in our heritage and culture, into a heritage centre and sustainable community hub, linking heritage, training, renewable-energy awareness, and wellbeing programmes for communities across Uist and Barra and the Outer Hebrides.