Small grants are available to community groups, households and businesses in Mull, Iona and the surrounding islands. Some are run by the Trust, some by other island funders. Staff can help you find the right one and fill in the form.
Charity Shop Community Fund
Grants of up to £500 for community groups and local organisations.
Who can apply. Community groups, local organisations and local projects in Mull, Iona, Ulva and Erraid.
How much. Up to £500.
TO CONFIRM: The £500 ceiling appears on the old site in two places, one of which has not been updated since about 2013. Is £500 still the maximum? Needs MICT input.
Deadlines. The old site says the next closing date is to be confirmed.
TO CONFIRM: No closing date is published anywhere on the old site. We have not invented one. MICT needs to supply the current deadline, or confirm the fund is open all year, before this page goes live.
How to apply. Complete the current application form and email it to hcowe@mict.co.uk, or post it to Mull and Iona Community Trust, An Roth Community Enterprise Centre, Craignure, Isle of Mull, PA65 6AY. The form asks how your group promotes recycling, because the money comes from the Island Castaways charity shops. Only the current form is accepted – older versions are returned.
TO CONFIRM: The old page offers the form as a PDF and a Word file, but the download links were not captured. We need the current files to upload.
This fund was called the MESS Funds on the old site, after the Trust’s recycling arm. More than £28,300 had been awarded through it by 2013.
Sea Eagle Fund
Grants of up to £500 for community groups, paid for from Mull Eagle Watch.
Who can apply. Community groups and local organisations in the islands, on the same basis as the Charity Shop Community Fund.
How much. Up to £500. Over £41,500 had been awarded by 2013.
How to apply. By application form returned to the Trust office at An Roth.
TO CONFIRM: This fund only appears on an old, unmaintained page. Does it still run, is £500 still the amount, and is there a current form and deadline? If it has closed, delete this section rather than publish it.
The Waterfall Fund
The Waterfall Fund is a separate, independent organisation. It distributes the profits from the Garmony Hydro scheme as grants to communities in Mull, Iona, Ulva, Gometra and Erraid. Apply to them directly at thewaterfallfund.co.uk.
TO CONFIRM: On the old site, /funding/the-waterfall-fund/ was a redirect to thewaterfallfund.co.uk. Everything below was captured from their website, not from MICT’s. Check all of it with the Waterfall Fund before publishing, and decide whether this page should simply link to them instead of listing their funds.
For community groups
- Community Groups Grant
- Community Cafe Fund
- Crisis Fund – open all year
- Community Hall Heating Fund
- Development Fund
- Sustainability Fund
For individuals and families
- Fuel Hardship Fund – open all year
- Crisis Fund – open all year
- Johnny Paton Memorial Fund
- Sustainability Fund
For businesses
- Business Start-up Grant
- Sustainability Fund
Deadlines. The Waterfall Fund site gave the next grant deadline as 14 September 2026 for all three groups of funds, with the Crisis Fund and Fuel Hardship Fund open all year.
TO CONFIRM: That deadline was correct on the Waterfall Fund’s own site when the old MICT site was captured in August 2026. It will be out of date quickly. Either pull it live from their site or drop the date and link to their grants page.
TO CONFIRM: Grant amounts for the Waterfall Fund are not stated in anything we captured. Ask them for the range for each fund, or leave amounts off and link out.
Help with your application
The Trust has been helping island groups win funding since 1997. We can:
- point you to the right fund
- read a draft and tell you what a funder will be looking for
- help write or check an application
- provide a reference in support of your bid
- give administration and constitutional support to new groups
Applying for funds is slow, careful work, and you do not have to do it alone. Ring the office on 01680 812900 or email enquiries@mict.co.uk.
TO CONFIRM: Is there a named member of staff for funding advice, and is the support still offered? The old site describes it but gives no contact.
How the Trust itself is funded
The Trust aims to earn at least half its income rather than rely on grants. Earned income comes from self storage, training and consultancy, left luggage, vending machines at Mull and Iona Community Hospital, room and office hire at An Roth, and the Island Castaways charity shops in Craignure, Bunessan and Tobermory.
TO CONFIRM: This paragraph is the whole of the old /funding/ page. It is about the Trust’s own income, not about grants for the reader, so it probably belongs on an About or finances page. Steering Group to decide where it lives.