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NHSGG&C Community Food Grant Scheme 2026/27
The small grants scheme is designed for localities to use their knowledge and relationships with organisations to build capacity, strengthen local networks and deliver community food activities where there is expressed need. The scheme is funded by NHSGGC and Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership and is distributed and administered by Glasgow Community Food Network.
Please use the following guidance to ensure your organisation can confidently meet the aims of the small grants scheme.
The aims of the fund are to:
- Encourage/support food growing
- Build community capacity
- Improve food literacy (understanding food labels, the Eatwell Guide etc)
- Improve cooking skills (ability to follow a recipe, cook using healthy ingredients etc)
- Target those living with Type 2 Diabetes
- Target children and families
This will be done through:
- Supporting existing or new growing spaces within communities
- Developing community assets such as people, places and existing services.
- Encouraging partnership working and collaborative approaches.
- Delivering food literacy and cooking skills activities.
- Support people living with Type 2 Diabetes to make healthier food choices.
- Engaging children and families in healthy eating initiatives.
- Building community capacity and strengthening local networks.
Impact on Health & Wellbeing
Your application should make clear how your project will improve health & wellbeing for the participants of the project or the local community.
Sustainability & Environment
Explain the positive environmental impact of your project & how you will minimise any negative impacts.
Equalities & Inclusion
Describe who will benefit most from the project and why they have been identified as the target audience. Explain the evidence or community feedback that demonstrates the need for the project and outline the practical measures you will take to ensure it is accessible, welcoming and inclusive for all participants.
Community
Show us how your project is embedded in your community. Be clear about how volunteers are or will be involved in your project. Tell us who you are working in partnership with.
Good Food Nation
The Good Food Nation Plan is Scotland’s national framework for building a food system that is fairer, healthier, more sustainable and resilient. It is supported by the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, which requires the Scottish Government, local authorities and NHS Boards to plan and report on how their food-related policies contribute to wider social, economic and environmental objectives.
The Plan aims to ensure that everyone in Scotland has access to healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food, while also improving public health, reducing inequalities, supporting local economies and protecting the environment.
Projects applying to the fund must contribute to at least one of the following Good Food Nation outcomes:
Outcome 1: People in Scotland have reliable access to safe, nutritious, affordable, sustainable, and culturally and age-appropriate food.
Outcome 3: Scotland’s food system supports physical and mental wellbeing, helping to reduce diet-related health conditions.
Outcome 5: Scotland has a strong food culture, with people who are interested in, informed about, and engaged with healthy and sustainable food choices.
This Small Grants Fund is designed to support community-based organisations operating in Glasgow City HSCP; the Fund can support both existing and new projects.
- Third Sector
- Registered Charities
- Parent Councils
Experience
Facilitators must evidence the following to be commissioned to deliver community practical cooking activities:
- Demonstrable experience of delivering community-based food, cooking or health improvement activities.
- Public Liability Insurance
- Membership to Disclosure Scotland PVG scheme (children and/or adults)
- Details of provider infrastructure and capacity (equipment; transport; staff etc) for programme delivery
- Compliance with NHSGGC Health and Safety Manual
- Compliance with data sharing agreement for evaluation and monitoring with NHSGGC in line with data sharing protocols
- Risk assessment procedures
- Information governance/GDPR compliance
Training requirements
Providers must ensure that facilitators hold and maintain the following qualifications prior to programme delivery:
Standard |
Expiry |
REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene |
3 years |
Accredited practical cooking training for trainers |
No expiry |
REHIS Elementary Food and Health |
No expiry |
Emergency First Aid certificate or equivalent |
3 years |
Copies of certificates may be requested prior to contract commencement and during quality assurance reviews.
Grants of up to £1200 are available. The minimum award level is £500.
The Funding can support: (examples, not an exhaustive list)
- Food growing; seeds, soils, planting pots and tools etc.
- Ingredients to facilitate cooking lessons/demo’s
- Hiring a community chef to facilitate demo’s/cooking lessons
- Training costs
- Resource development
The Fund will NOT support applications for:
- Travel Expenses
- Contingency costs, loans, endowments or interest payments
- Political or religious campaigning
- profit-making or fundraising activities
- VAT which can be reclaimed
- Statutory activities
- Alcoholic beverages and other harmful substances (e.g. tobacco)
Monitoring and Evaluation
Funded projects must comply with the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Data Framework and all relevant data protection requirements. Organisations will be required to use standardised pre- and post-programme questionnaires to measure changes in participants’ knowledge, skills, confidence and behaviours.
Robust monitoring and evaluation are essential to demonstrate the impact of funded activities against the aims of the fund. In addition to quantitative data, organisations should collect case studies and participant stories to evidence outcomes, highlight learning, and showcase the difference the project has made to individuals, families and communities. These will help demonstrate the wider impact and value of the funding.
Please ensure that appropriate consent is obtained before sharing any case studies. No, personally identifiable information should be collected, and participants featured in case studies must remain anonymous. Photographs are welcomed where appropriate consent has been obtained from participants and/or the organisation.
Impact on Health & Wellbeing
Your application should make clear how your project will improve health & wellbeing for the participants of the project or the local community
Sustainability & Environment
Explain the positive environmental impact of your project & how you will minimise any negative impacts.
Equalities & Inclusion
Be clear about how this project is targeted towards people who would benefit from it the most. Explain who your ‘target audience’ are and how you have identified this is a need within the community you are working with. Tell us about the practical steps you are taking to ensure your project is inclusive.
Community
Show us how your project is embedded in your community. Be clear about how volunteers are or will be involved in your project. Tell us who you are working in partnership with.
Budget and Match Funding
Please ensure your budget is appropriate for the work you intend to undertake. Consider what funding you will need to make your project inclusive. Where applicable:
- Tell us about other contributions to the project (for example from other funders or local businesses).
- Consider how the project may be continued after this period of funding.
Grants given from the Fund can be used as part of a match funding process. If this Fund is used to match fund a project that is already funded through NHS Glasgow & Clyde, then it must cover additional activity, and activities cannot be double funded. If match funding is being sought from another fund to compliment this Fund, then this should be explained in the application with consideration given to the expected timescales required for this.
Match funding is where funding from another source is obtained to ‘match’ the funds awarded from a grant giver.
Please return your completed application to [email protected] by Wednesday 25th November 2026
If further information is required, please contact: [email protected]
Timeline
Applications open: Fri 6 November 2026
Applications deadline: Wed 25 November 2026, 5pm
Guidance Document (all the info on this webpage in one document)
