Common Questions

There are specific rules about which organisations can become a charity. The purpose of the charity must meet certain criteria, and the public benefit of the charity must be clear. You can read detailed guidance on this here.

Your registered charity has a legal requirement to promote its charitable status to the public. This means that your charity number should be visible throughout your website and included on email signatures and any publications from your organisation.

For an easy way to promote your charitable status status, OSCR offers a charity registration logo, including your unique charity number, that can be downloaded for free. To download this logo, search for your charity on OSCR and click on the link that says ‘Download this charity’s registration logo’. Further guidance on the usage of this logo is available here.

Contact the team to discuss the type of organisation you are setting up or find samples on the SCVO website.

Guidance and good practice on being a charity trustee can be found here.

Our Development Officers will be happy to talk through your ideas for funding applications and to offer guidance on how to prepare them. We unfortunately can’t write funding bids or review your application before you look to submit them.

Restricted funds refers are those that can only be used for specific projects or purposes. Unrestricted funds can be used for general running costs or for other purposes that your constitution allows.

Communities which are in the scope of the Drumderg, Calliacher and Griffin windfarms run by SSE can find out more information on the community funds open to them here
Foundation Scotland funds include a number of the community energy projects which distribute funds to specific communities in Perth and Kinross.

Social enterprises aim to make a profit just like any private sector business. However, their profits or surpluses are reinvested back into the enterprise to develop their social and/or environmental purpose.
Social enterprises in Scotland are often recognised as being asset locked so that only the community and society can profit from their work, buildings, land and other assets. Social enterprises must be sustainable in order to meet their social and/or environmental mission. The Voluntary Code of Practice for Social Enterprise in Scotland is a set of guidelines used by some Scottish social enterprises.There’s no single, legal definition of social enterprise in the UK. Definitions vary across the world and even within the UK.
Read more here.

The funding that is available to you will depend on how you are constituted – some social enterprises are charities, some will be companies limited by guarantee and others will be CICs. Every funder has their own rules about who they support
Funding which is specifically aimed at Social Enterprises can be found here.

Here in Perth and Kinross, Growbiz maintain a Social Enterprise Directory where you can find local social enterprises.
Social Enterprise Scotland also maintain a Directory of members.

A huge range of organisations follow the more-than-profit approach that make up social enterprise in Scotland. Social enterprises will include some charities but also include companies limited by guarantee, co-operatives and mutuals, social firms (who create work opportunities for people who face significant barriers to employment), Community Interest Companies (CICs), Development Trusts, Credit Unions, and Housing Associations

Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 helps communities to do more for themselves and have more say in decisions that affect them. There are 11 topics covered by the Act, of which Community Asset Transfer is one. Other topics include Community Planning, Participation Requests and Community rights to buy land. Full details of the powers communities have can be found at Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act: summary – gov.scot (www.gov.scot).
You can learn more about making a participation request on the Scottish Community Development Centre website.

You can find a full explanation of the way that land ownership is changing for communities in Scotland on the COSS website.

PKC publish a list of sites which was last updated in 2019. Updates and current information can be found on their website.

SCVO run regular webinars for third sector organisations, many of which are free. You will find details a Events & training – SCVO
Webinars on a variety of topics for Social Enterprises can be found at Just Enterprise
NHS Tayside run a programme of free webinars on “Wellbeing at Work” and “Supporting and Developing Employees”. Contact tay.healthandworktraining@nhs.scot for details

Scottish Government has produced Fair Work First guidance for organisations seeking public sector grants, contracts and other funding. This applies to grants awarded on or after 1 July 2023. Read more here.