Impact Funding Partners was tasked with distributing £3.3million of government cash to encourage more people from disadvantaged and minority ethnic backgrounds and with poor mental health to volunteer in their local communities.

The fund aims to enable Scotland’s small to medium sized third sector organisations to recruit additional volunteers who will contribute towards delivering a new volunteering project, or extending/expanding an existing one, and improve how volunteers are supported in their role.  By providing much needed volunteer opportunities, particularly geared towards hard to reach groups in communities, the fund will have a positive impact on social and economic renewal.   

The fund supports funded organisations to deliver on four key outcomes:

• Increase diversity in the third sector’s volunteer pool, to particularly include people who experience disadvantage or would traditionally experience barriers to volunteering
• Improve governance, leadership and financial knowledge of organisations through the recruitment of skilled volunteers to enhance the third sector’s capacity
• Improve organisational capacity to provide opportunities for skills and personal development through volunteering
• Enhance services delivered by organisations to better meet the needs of the communities they serve