The Robertson Trust has relaunched one of its grants programmes under a new name with an “always-open application route”.
The grantmaker’s Programme Awards has been relaunched as the Big Change That Lasts Fund, which will see £10m distributed to Scottish charities next year.
The change comes after the grantmaker increased its total annual funding pot to £30m and unveiled its new brand identity last year.
The Robertson Trust’s Big Change That Lasts Fund, which was launched this week, will distribute about £10m annually by the 2026/27 financial year, although this year’s funding will be up to £8m as the programme scales up.
The fund will support organisations working in Scotland to deliver long-term, systemic change that prevents and reduces poverty and related trauma.
It will have an always-open application route, with regular decision points to allow organisations to apply whenever their idea is ready.
The first decision point will be in May this year, followed by another in August.
Additional meetings will be held in the first year to manage demand, but the grantmaker will move to quarterly decisions thereafter, a spokesperson said.
This moves away from its previous open call approach to grantmaking, with the spokesperson saying: “These changes are based on significant stakeholder consultation and learning from the last three years of Programme Awards.
“Through this process, we heard that the strongest ideas tend to develop collaboratively rather than through ‘cold’ applications, and that open calls and short deadlines can limit both quality and accessibility.”
The relaunched fund will open with a focus on financial security, with further themes set to follow, including work pathways in late 2026, education pathways in 2027 and nurturing relationships by 2028.
Under the first theme, the grantmaker will focus on funding secure access to essentials such as housing and energy, a stronger social security system and preventing insecurity through upstream reforms.
The new fund will also have a streamlined two-stage application process; clearer and more accessible guidance; and a stronger focus on supporting development and building relationships.
The grantmaker added that the fund would include “significant improvements to internal assessment and decision-making processes to free up staff to focus on supporting greater impact”.
When asked how it planned to do this, the grantmaker’s spokesperson said: “We are expanding and formalising the use of external assessors, combining lived and professional expertise, and embedding this within programmes to support both assessment and impact.
“We have also reflected on our application and assessment processes and have found ways to streamline them to make our processes more transparent to applicants.”
The Robertson Trust said it would also continue to create opportunities for learning, by connecting grant holders and other organisations and by helping to build a really strong set of projects that can best deliver meaningful, long-term change.
“This is an evolution of our approach, building on what we’ve learned to better support the kind of work needed to create big change that lasts in preventing and reducing poverty and trauma in Scotland.
“We’re looking forward to working alongside organisations across Scotland as this next phase begins,” the grantmaker said.