Category Archives: Participatory Budgeting

Deadline for Applications coming up……….

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Please get your application in NOW for £eith Chooses 2024-2025!
The deadline for applications is 10 October 2024.

 The theme this year is Leith Uniting.

Local charities and community groups* can apply for project funding of up to £5,000.
As usual, projects should be new or adding new value (not continued funding of an existing service) that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should be designed to start after 1 April 2025 and run until March 2026 at the latest.

Please do ask for help and support in putting together your application if you wish. Contact leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk Please submit your application as early as you can – or let us know that you are intending to apply – that then leaves time for any questions or adjustments that may be necessary, and avoids the stressful ‘last minute rush’!
*only organisations that have a Constitution and a bank account may apply

Please download an application form here, and be sure to also download and study the Guidance Notes, to help you ascertain if your project is eligible, and to guide you in putting together your application. Various formats are available:

format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Gu
idance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

You can also pick up a paper form at Leith Library, McDonald Road Library, Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, or Duncan Place.

The vote will be in January 2025.

Apply Now to £eith Chooses!

Posted on by

Please get your application in for £eith Chooses 2024-2025!
The deadline for applications is 10 October 2024. The vote will be in January 2025.

The theme this year is Leith Uniting.

Local charities and community groups* can apply for project funding of up to £5,000.
As usual, projects should be new or adding new value (not continued funding of an existing service) that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should be designed to start after 1 April 2025 and run until March 2026 at the latest.

Please do ask for help and support in putting together your application if you wish. Contact leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk Please submit your application as early as you can – or let us know that you are intending to apply – that then leaves time for any questions or adjustments that may be necessary, and avoids the stressful ‘last minute rush’!
*only organisations that have a Constitution and a bank account may apply

Please download an application form here, and be sure to also download and study the Guidance Notes, to help you ascertain if your project is eligible, and to guide you in putting together your application. Various formats are available:

format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Gu
idance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

You can also pick up a paper form at Leith Library, McDonald Road Library, Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, or Duncan Place.

Apply Now to LeithChooses!

Posted on by

Please get your application in for LeithChooses 2024-2025!
The deadline for applications is 10 October 2024. The vote will be in January 2025.

The theme this year is Leith Uniting.

Local charities and community groups* can apply for project funding of up to £5,000.
As usual, projects should be new or adding new value (not continued funding of an existing service) that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should be designed to start after 1 April 2025 and run until March 2026 at the latest.

Please do ask for help and support in putting together your application if you wish. Contact leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk Please submit your application as early as you can – or let us know that you are intending to apply – that then leaves time for any questions or adjustments that may be necessary, and avoids the stressful ‘last minute rush’!
*only organisations that have a Constitution and a bank account may apply

Please download an application form here, and be sure to also download and study the Guidance Notes, to help you ascertain if your project is eligible, and to guide you in putting together your application. Various formats are available:

format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Guidance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

You can also pick up a paper form at Leith Library, McDonald Road Library, Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, or Duncan Place.

£eithChooses 2024-2025 is open for applications now!

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£eith Chooses 2024-2025 is now open for applications!
Local charities and community groups* are invited to apply for project funding of up to £5,000 for a new project.
         The new theme this year is Leith Uniting.
Hopefully this is open enough to allow for all sorts of creative interpretations. Looking forward to hearing your ideas for new projects!

As usual, projects are invited that are new or adding new value (not continued funding of an existing service) that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should be designed to start after 1 April 2025 and run until March 2026 at the latest.

Please do ask for help and support in putting together your application if you wish. Contact leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk Please submit your application as early as you can – that then leaves time for any questions or adjustments that may be necessary, and avoids the stressful ‘last minute rush’! At the very latest, application forms must be submitted by 10th October 2024.

*only organisations that have a Constitution and a bank account may apply

Please download an application form here, and be sure to also download and study the Guidance Notes, to help you ascertain if your project is eligible, and to guide you in putting together your application. Various formats are available:

format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Gu
idance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

You will also be able to pick up a paper form at Leith Library, McDonald Road Library, Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, Duncan Place.

LeithChooses 2024-2025 is open for applications now!

Posted on by

LeithChooses 2024-2025 is now open for applications!
Local charities and community groups* are invited to apply for project funding of up to £5,000 for a new project.
         The new theme this year is Leith Uniting.
Hopefully this is open enough to allow for all sorts of creative interpretations. Looking forward to hearing your ideas for new projects!

As usual, projects are invited that are new or adding new value (not continued funding of an existing service) that will be of benefit to the community in Leith. Projects should be designed to start after 1 April 2025 and run until March 2026 at the latest.

Please do ask for help and support in putting together your application if you wish. Contact leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk Please submit your application as early as you can – that then leaves time for any questions or adjustments that may be necessary, and avoids the stressful ‘last minute rush’! At the very latest, application forms must be submitted by 10th October 2024.

*only organisations that have a Constitution and a bank account may apply

Please download an application form here, and be sure to also download and study the Guidance Notes, to help you ascertain if your project is eligible, and to guide you in putting together your application. Various formats are available:

format Application Form Guidance Notes
DOCX Application form (DOCX format) Guidance notes (DOCX format)
DOC Application form (DOC format) Guidance notes (DOC format)
PDF Application form (PDF format) Guidance notes (PDF format)

You will also be able to pick up a paper form at Leith Library, McDonald Road Library, Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, Duncan Place.

£eith Chooses 2024/25 opens for applications this week!

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Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! Here’s the latest news from £eith Chooses –

The new theme for £eith Chooses for 2024/2025 is Leith Uniting.
Hopefully this is open enough to allow for all sorts of creative interpretations. We will look forward to hearing your ideas for new projects.

Applications are opening early, so you should have plenty time
Along with the ‘back to school’ bustle, £eith Chooses will be open for applications from Wednesday 14th August. You will thus have the full school term to prepare and submit your application (until mid October). But please make good use of this long preparation time, and don’t leave everything until the last minute…!

Get Support
At our ‘community conversation’ day in May 2023, many groups expressed a wish for support in putting together their application, and we are very happy to offer as much support as necessary. It’s a good idea to get in touch early, to make the most of support opportunities. Contact can be made via: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

The new Application Forms and Guidance Notes will be available very soon, from this site. Watch this space! Paper copies will also be available to be picked up from the Leith libraries, The Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, and Duncan Place.

LeithChooses 2024/25 opens for applications this week!

Posted on by

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! Here’s the latest news from LeithChooses –

The new theme for LeithChooses for 2024/2025 is Leith Uniting.
Hopefully this is open enough to allow for all sorts of creative interpretations. We will look forward to hearing your ideas for new projects.

Applications are opening early, so you should have plenty time
Along with the ‘back to school’ bustle, LeithChooses will be open for applications from Wednesday 14th August. You will thus have the full school term to prepare and submit your application (until mid October). But please make good use of this long preparation time, and don’t leave everything until the last minute…!

Get Support
At our ‘community conversation’ day in May 2023, many groups expressed a wish for support in putting together their application, and we are very happy to offer as much support as necessary. It’s a good idea to get in touch early, to make the most of support opportunities. Contact can be made via: leithchooses@edinburgh.gov.uk

The new Application Forms and Guidance Notes will be available very soon, from this site. Watch this space! Paper copies will also be available to be picked up from the Leith libraries, The Leith Community Centre, Out of the Blue, and Duncan Place.

What stage is LeithChooses at, now?

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Well! Tying up loose ends and ramping up for next year, in a nutshell.

Since April, all last year’s monies have been paid out to the groups that won funding in the January 2024 vote, so those groups are hopefully all already well launched with their proposed projects. These projects run between April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

The LeithChooses Steering Group (SG) has been busy writing a report and carrying out an evaluation of the 2023-2024 project, and as soon as that is signed off by City of Edinburgh Council (soon!), that will be posted publicly for all to read.

The SG has also been planning the next ’round’ of projects and voting, for 2024-2025, and updating the paperwork in preparation.

The Theme (provisionally, for now) is LEITH UNITING

The timescales are as follows:
16 August 2024 – LeithChooses open for new applications
10 October 2024 – applications must be completed and submitted
January 2025 – Voting (online and in-person – exact dates to be confirmed)
by 31 March 2025 – all funds will be disbursed to project groups

Another job is to collect in the project reports from the projects that were voted for in 2023 and which ran from April 2023 – March 2024. We do not ask for much, in the way of reporting, so hopefully it is not too cumbersome for groups. It is really important though; groups that do not submit a report are ineligible to apply for funding again the following year

What stage is £eith Chooses at, now?

Posted on by

Well! Tying up loose ends and ramping up for next year, in a nutshell.

Since April, all last year’s monies have been paid out to the groups that won funding in the January 2024 vote, so those groups are hopefully all already well launched with their proposed projects. These projects run between April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

The £eith Chooses Steering Group (SG) has been busy writing a report and carrying out an evaluation of the 2023-2024 project, and as soon as that is signed off by City of Edinburgh Council (soon!), that will be posted publicly for all to read.

The SG has also been planning the next ’round’ of projects and voting, for 2024-2025, and updating the paperwork in preparation.

The Theme (provisionally, for now) is LEITH UNITING

The timescales are as follows:
16 August 2024 – £eith Chooses open for new applications
10 October 2024 – applications must be completed and submitted
January 2025 – Voting (online and in-person – exact dates to be confirmed)
by 31 March 2025 – all funds will be disbursed to project groups

Another job is to collect in the project reports from the projects that were voted for in 2023 and which ran from April 2023 – March 2024. We do not ask for much, in the way of reporting, so hopefully it is not too cumbersome for groups. It is really important though; groups that do not submit a report are ineligible to apply for funding again the following year

LeithChooses Results 2023-2024 – update

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Sadly, one of the community groups that had won funding from this round of LeithChooses has closed down. Hence this funding has been offered to the next highest in the list of results – and this group has gratefully accepted.

The list of funded groups is now

  • The Men of Leith Men’s Shed
  • Citadel Youth Centre
  • Edinburgh Remakery
  • Leith Festival
  • Edinburgh Tool Library
  • Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain
  • Hibernian Community Foundation
  • Dr Bells Family Centre
  • Leith Athletic
  • ELREC
  • Edinburgh Community Food
  • Himalayan Centre
  • Hermitage Park School Association (partial funding)

If you want to know more about what all these groups / projects are about, you can check them out at our gallery.