The Commonwealth Games are coming back to Glasgow in 2026, and the city will no doubt be buzzing with activity. With so many people coming together to enjoy the events and so much positive energy, we’d love to see climate action and environmental issues be part of the action.

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What we don’t want to do is take a ready-made audience and insert climate action into the conversation in a way that doesn’t make sense and ends up putting people off. With that in mind, the Climate Action Hub can offer a grant of up to £10,000 to fund a project that can develop meaningful content and deliver engagement around it.

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The proposal is simple; we’re looking for the most interesting answer to the following question:

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What does a meaningful connection between the Commonwealth Games (or sports in general) and climate action look like and how might we build on that connection to generate conversations that leave a lasting impact on participants’ perception of climate change/action?

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Ideally, we’d love to see applications from sports organisations who are already planning activities that tie into the games. Even better, we’d love to see a partnership between a sports organisation and one of the many amazing climate groups we have in the city to enhance the impact of the project and really ensure the climate perspective is front and centre. Feel free to look at the members of the Glasgow Community Climate Action Network if you’re looking for potential partners. If you’re looking for a particular type of expertise that isn’t there, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to try some matchmaking.

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We know that the application and delivery window are tight and we’re happy for applications to represent a well thought out idea to be developed if not a fully mapped out proposal. As long as we’re confident that your application is realistic and that your organisation has the experience and established connections to deliver.

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As part of the application, we’ll ask you to answer the question but also to think about:

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• How will you translate your answer into content and what might it look like?

• What audiences will you engage with and why?

• What partnerships do you have in place to ensure access to those audiences?

• What will participants take away from the experience?

• What might we learn from the experience that will build our knowledge or shape future activity?

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Applicants might want to be aware of the Glasgow 2026 Festival which recently announced funding for a city-wide programme of community-led events, performances, sports participation, and cultural activities tied to the games. The organisations funded are listed on the website here. When you think about how you might engage audiences with your content, recipients of this fund might be useful contacts although it’s not a requirement to connect to them and they're not directly affiliated with this fund. You’re free to identify audiences however you like.

 

Criteria

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We’re flexible on what this project might look like, but we have some desirable criteria:

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• The content developed should facilitate interactive, discussion or activity-based engagement rather than something one-way or presentation based.

• You’re free to propose what engagement should look like based on the budget, but we would like to see each of the three Glasgow localities (North West, North East and South) represented with reasonable consideration given to equalities and diversity within the intended audiences.

• Ideally, applications will be for projects that answer the question, develop the content and deliver engagement. We would also like to see content that can be shared with partners who might be interested in running their own engagement sessions if they have capacity. If you have an interesting answer to the question and an idea of how that might translate to content for engagement, but you don’t have the ability to commit to running engagement sessions, please reach out to us before applying.

• If you chose to partner with another organisation, we would ask one partner to act as lead in terms of governance and reporting. We would only expect a joint application if both parties were collaborating significantly on the development and delivery of the content. An organisation who develops the content themselves but arranges engagement sessions through community-based partners can apply in their own name. In that instance, you can share a portion of the funds with delivery partners for their time and effort at your discretion.

• We are happy for engagement to take place alongside/during other planned events connected to the games (especially given the tight turnaround times) and costs can be shared to maximise impact, however, the climate content must be integrated meaningfully within the event and with clear focus so consideration should be given to whether that’s realistic.

• We would expect engagement activity to primarily run parallel to the games (July 23rd – August 2nd) but we will permit activity to take place beyond those dates if there is a strong case made in the application.

 

Conditions:

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The fund is open to all constituted third sector organisations in the Glasgow City area. Constituted groups include charities (including SCIOs), Companies Limited by Guarantee, trusts and unincorporated associations. Community Interest Companies (CICs) are eligible, provided they are constituted in a way that prevents profit distribution to shareholders.

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A final report must be provided to us within 3 weeks of the date of the last activity on the project. The format of the report will be dependent on the format of the project and will be agreed before the grant is released.

What can be funded:

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• Equipment and materials

• Hall and room hire including food and refreshments

• Participation costs

• Staffing costs

• Training costs

• Transport

• Utilities and running costs

• Volunteer expenses

• Safety equipment and PPE

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What can NOT be funded:

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• Capital costs*

• Contingency costs, loans endowments or interest

• Political or religious campaigning

• Profit making or fundraising activities

• VAT which can be reclaimed

• Statutory activities

• Overseas travel

• Scholarships

• Research work

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*In the context of this application, capital costs do not include small IT and equipment purchases under £500.