Cairngorms Trust Path Maintenance

Our vision is to encourage sustainable and community-led development within the Cairngorms National Park and to inspire communities to support the landscapes, wildlife and local culture for which the Cairngorms is renowned. The Cairngorms Trust has been active in distributing funds to a wide range of community projects to support community-led enhancements to these special qualities of the Cairngorms National Park.

The aims of the Cairngorms Trust are to:

• Support Community led development
• Support the conservation of the Cairngorms nature and wildlife
• Support the heritage and culture of the Cairngorms
• Support outdoor recreation opportunities in the Cairngorms, allowing people to experience our amazing scenery and landscapes.

We have successfully completed three Campaign Funds; Boat of Garten Wildlife Group creating a community willow structure, osprey nest and community workshops in the Milton Loch area, Kingussie Path Network Improvement Project creating a volunteer programme and maintaining the paths around Kingussie and Braemar Society Bridge and Path maintenance project, repairing the Society Bridge and helping improve the paths leading to the bridge.

We are looking for our next Infrastructure (Path Maintenance, bridge repair etc) themed project campaign project ideally with an underpinning climate change theme to work with us. Our campaign funds are for projects that want to get involved with the fundraising alongside the Cairngorms Trust and we will need the project chosen to be completely on board with working with us to raise the funds for your project within 6 to 12 months of your offer letter.

Alongside yourselves, we anticipate raising funds in the region of £5,000 – £8,000 and your application should fall within this amount.

We are inviting projects to apply using the Campaigns application form if they have a suitable project. We will accept projects that have match funding to bring greater benefit to the project.

All projects should have two underpinning principles:

1. Green – projects will contribute to strengthening the natural and social capital of the Park
2. Cairngorms – projects will be Cairngorms National Park focused and contribute to the benefit of the Community or landscapes within the area.

A representative from the Cairngorms Trust will be available to answer any questions you may have regarding the application process. Please submit an expression of interest to the fund and once you have heard back from us a full application form. The project must not be covered under statutory funding.

Key dates for this fund are as follows

• Applications open – 5th December 2024
• Applications close – 31st January 2025
• Applications received, logged and acknowledged – 4th February 2025
• Applications scored by initial panel and full panel – 13th February 2025
• Successful applicant notified – 20th February 2025
• Offer letters sent out – 27th February 2025
• Offer letters returned – 12th March 2025
• Projects start date – once 50% of the funding has been raised

Delivering our Campaign Projects is a teamwork approach where the Cairngorms Trust will work with the successful projects to actively raise funds for your project. Once the campaign has started we would need you to actively promote The Cairngorms Trust in your local area of the Cairngorms. This is to support the fundraising activities that the Cairngorms Trust will be undertaking on your project’s behalf. We will keep you updated on a regular basis and on completion of the funding target.

We anticipate that we will hold at least one community event in your area highlighting the project and raising funds for it. The Cairngorms Trust can be the main organisers for the event if required, but we will need community volunteers to help with the publicity, organisation and running of the event. We also anticipate that we will create a Crowdfunder type online event which again we will need community assistance with to make it as successful as possible. In addition to this the Cairngorms Trust will be actively raising funds throughout the rest of the Cairngorms for the successful campaign project.

As soon as the successful campaign is selected by our trustees we will arrange to meet with your project and put in place a plan for raising the funds.  Before any grant funding can be claimed, we will collectively need to raise at least 50% of the installation / project costs, only at this point can your project physically start.  Continuing from here the final 50% needs to be raised before it can be distributed to your project. Within your project we can help you identify suitable milestones to claim the funding against, usually 40%, 40% and the final 20% on completion of the project.  The more help you give us, the quicker the fundraising process will be and the quicker your project will come to fruition.

Extensions to funding will be looked at on a case-by-case basis but will be measured against results of the project and reasons for delay in completion and current funding priorities.

The Campaign Projects Panel will be made up from the members of the Cairngorms Local Action Group Trust and Cairngorms Trust staff members. The grants will be considered at our February 2025 meeting and applicants will be notified of the results following this.
Applications should be made using the Campaign Projects Application Form.

The panel will assess the applications on the basis of the following eight criteria:
• The grant funds sought are essential to make the project idea happen.
• The project will deliver public benefit to the residents of and/or visitors to the Cairngorms and will enhance the local community.
• The project will contribute to strengthening the natural and social capital of the Cairngorms.
• The project shows that it has a high chance of delivering the intended public benefit.
• The project demonstrates that it is well thought out and has clear and measurable outcomes.
• Your project fits within the broader aims of the Cairngorms Trust.
• The project has clearly identified any risks and has a plan to manage them.
• Your project has clear direction into how it will help the Cairngorms Trust raise the funds for your project.
Successful applicants will be required to share their progress and achievements with The Cairngorms Trust and others. We may choose to share this through social media and other media so that successful projects can be replicated. These lessons will also be shared with the wider public to demonstrate the impact that the campaign projects have had within the Cairngorms National Park.

Successful applicants are required to promote The Cairngorms Trust as being supporters to your project. Funding decisions are final and feedback may be provided where possible depending on the volume of submissions.

For further details or to arrange to speak to a Cairngorms Trust representative please contact the Cairngorms Trust by email info@cairngormstrust.org.uk.