Renfrewshire Council

What the Cultural Organisations Fund (COF) is

The Cultural Organisations Fund (COF) supports established local organisations to undertake programmes of creative and cultural activity that delivers public benefit and aligns with the council's strategic aims for culture.

The objectives of the fund are to:

• enable cultural organisations to deliver long-term engagement with the arts, culture, and heritage through engaging and innovative programming
• strengthen organisational sustainability that continues to raise cultural ambition in Renfrewshire
• support organisations which have an ongoing commitment to diversifying and expanding cultural participation.

Applications are open from 9am on Tuesday 8 April and close at 5pm on Tuesday 20 May 2025.

Information sessions

There are 2 online information sessions for prospective applicants:

• Tuesday 15 April 2025 from 10am to 11am
• Wednesday 30 April 2025 from 2pm to 3pm

Contact us at cof-enquiries@renfrewshire.gov.uk to book your place at one of our information sessions. Let us know which date you want to attend.

Who can apply for it

Your organisation should be a formally registered company or charity whose primary purpose is promoting culture and creativity. 

This includes:

• charities registered in Scotland and undertaking activity related to the arts, creativity, and culture. 
• companies limited by guarantee that can clearly demonstrate their programme of work will promote the public good through arts and culture. 
• community interest companies (CICs) registered at Companies House with a focus on arts and culture. 

Your organisation must:

• have a UK bank account in the same name as the organisation
• pay all hourly staff at least the National Living Wage
• pay freelance creative contracts in line with the Scottish Artists Union (SAU), Musicians Union (MU), or other relevant representative body's rate.

Who cannot apply for it

You cannot apply for this funding if your organisation:

• does not have aims related to cultural, creative or arts activity
• does not have a business address in Renfrewshire
• is in administration, receivership, or liquidation 
• is in debt to the council
• received funding from the council, so it has more than £315,000 of national Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) from any source or for any purpose within a three-year period - you can find out more about MFA on the gov.scot website.

How much you can apply for

There are 3 tiers of funding you can apply for:

• £10,000 a year, up to a total of £30,000 over 3 financial years
• £15,000 a year, up to a total of £45,000 over 3 financial years
• £20,000 a year, up to a total of £60,000 over 3 financial years.

However, funding is limited, and we may not be able to give grants to all eligible organisations. 

The funding period is from 17 July 2025 to 14 March 2028, and the fund can be used across 3 financial years.

What the funding can be used for

The funding can be used for programme or operational costs. 

Organisations can decide on the best use of the funds based on their needs and priorities throughout the 3-year funding period. 

However, a minimum of 40% of each annual budget must be allocated to programming. 

Programming costs

Funding can be used to undertake programmes of creative and culture activity including:

• promoting local culture and history from across the region
• improving the wellbeing of communities through engagement in cultural activity
• producing innovative cultural experiences in Renfrewshire for residents and visitors
• revitalising civic spaces in Renfrewshire's town centres through cultural production
• offering employment opportunities that demonstrate Renfrewshire's cultural sector as a positive place to work. 

Operational costs

This can include contributions towards overhead costs, such as 

• rental
• staffing
• services
• building repairs to help keep cultural spaces open for the community.

Before you apply

Application guidance

Your application should demonstrate how your proposed activity represents good value for public money.

Make sure you have read the full Cultural Organisations Fund (COF) guidance [378KB] before you start your application.

You also need to complete a Cultural Organisations Fund (COF) equalities monitoring form [63KB] which you can upload to the online form.

If you have any questions applying for it, email us at cof-enquiries@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

Information you need to tell us on your application

Operational details

You need to tell us:

• your organisation's name, address, website (if you have one), registration number, organisational status and aims
• the details of the lead contact person
• operational details including number of employees, volunteers, or practitioners you work with
• your target demographic groups
• main and secondary artforms
• what geographical areas in Renfrewshire you deliver activity in.

Business plan

You need to provide us with a business plan that includes: 

• a full description of the activities and services your organisation offers
• the organisation's strategic aims and benefits to the community
• a breakdown of your organisation's planned expenditure for 2025-2026, 2026-2027, and 2027-2028, including projected income and expenditure across operational, staffing, and programming costs
• an outline annual plan for 2025-2026 (maximum 2 pages).

Financial information

We also need this financial information:

• the organisation's bank account details
• a bank statement less than 3 months old
• a copy of your most recent annual accounts or an income and expenditure statement - these should be less than 15 months old, dated and signed as approved (you can include a link to the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) or to a Companies House submitted file).

Organisation information

You will need to provide this information about your organisation:

• a signed, dated copy of the organisation's constitution or memorandum and articles of association - you can include a link to the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) or to a Companies House submitted file
• your organisation's safeguarding or child protection policies, if applicable
• your organisation's equalities policy or clear evidence of commitment to equalities and diversity
• a completed equalities monitoring form [63KB]  using the template provided.

Any other relevant information

You can also add any other relevant information, ideally in PDF format, to support your application, such as:

• examples of previous work
• letters of support
• evidence of income from other sources
• CVs of artists or key staff involved in your project.

How to apply

Apply online

Before you start, you'll need to register for MyAccount through mygov.scot. If you've already registered, you do not need to do it again.  

Apply for Cultural Organisations Funding (COF).

Other ways to apply

If you need help to apply or you need an application form in a different format, email cof-enquiries@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Tuesday 20 May 2025.

We cannot accept late applications. You must submit all required documents online by the deadline for us to consider your application.

After you've applied

We'll check to make sure your application is eligible and complete. 

If it's incomplete, we'll contact you about the missing or incomplete information we need. You'll have 5 working days to send us this information. 

If we do not get the information by then, your application will not be taken forward.

How we make a decision

We evaluate all applications based on these 3 criteria:

• how well the proposal fits with our 5 strategic aims for culture
• governance and management
• financial risk and mitigation.

You can read the full assessment criteria and scoring in Appendix 1 of the Cultural Organisations Fund (COF) guidance [378KB] .

When we'll tell you about your application

We'll email you on Wednesday 16 July 2025 to let you know our decision.

If your organisation is awarded funding

You'll receive an email with the grant offer letter, including information on payment schedules and reporting.

You'll be expected to set annual targets with the council and report on the delivery of these aims at the end of each financial year.

If you do not get funding

If your organisation is not successful with your application, we'll contact you to tell you why, but your application will not proceed any further.

See what other funding is available for community groups, charities and social enterprises or what support we can offer to businesses. 

More information

If you have any questions about the fund, email us at  cof-enquiries@renfrewshire.gov.uk.