Community Festive Fund 2025

Community Festive Fund

The Community Festive Fund was established to encourage organisations and groups to come together within their own communities during the Christmas and Hogmanay period to celebrate community wellbeing and togetherness.

Please note

All applicants must submit a financial breakdown of estimated expenditure as stated in the application form
No late applications will be eligible for funding.
Your application will be assessed to ensure it meets the grant criteria.
All applicants will receive written award notification detailing the amount of funding or reasons for not receiving funding.
Groups must keep all receipts and proof of expenditure and submit them within two weeks of the event. Please ensure that receipts submitted are legible.

Following a satisfactory submission of a group’s expenditure, payment will be made by BACS and could take up to 4 weeks. This should be taken into account when returning the receipts.

How to Apply

Applications are now closed.

If you have any questions, please contact externalfunding@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Guidance

A full guidance document is available below.

Community Festive Fund Guidance 2025 313.33 KB

Who can apply

The fund can provide a small financial grant to community groups and organisations from Aberdeen, who are arranging a celebration for their local community or continuing to grow and develop an existing event which may already be held within Aberdeen City.

Events must be held between 17 November 2025 and 2 January 2026
All events must take place within Aberdeen City
Only one application per group will be considered

The Community Festive Fund operates a three strikes policy in order to spread funding across more community groups. In practice, this means that groups that have applied and received funding for three consecutive years must wait a year before applying again.

Any group which has submitted applications for support from this fund in the past and then failed to comply with the criteria, including the submission of receipts after the event will have this taken into consideration when funding applications are reviewed.

How much funding is available

The funding available for any group or organisation is up to a maximum of £350. The fund has limited resources and grants will be allocated on a proportional basis to all eligible applications.

Groups should be aware that in previous years, due to demand, applicants have received awards less than the amount applied for. When making an application, groups should consider how any funding shortfall might be met to allow the event to go ahead.

What we will fund

Applications received to support a festive activity/event can include some or all of the following expenditure:

Entertainment
Venue Costs
Transport
Staffing
Catering
Party decorations/theming
Small Santa gifts (selection boxes or other gifts up to a maximum of £3)

All events must take place within Aberdeen City Council boundaries.

What we will not fund

Whilst Aberdeen City Council will not fund any of the following from the Community Festive Fund. It is accepted that organisations may consider doing this from their own resources.

Events out with Aberdeen City Council boundary
Expenditure associated with a groups normal day to day running costs (e.g. electricity, cleaning)
Alcohol
Lottery tickets/scratch cards
Equipment and electrical items (iPhones/iPads, play equipment)
Christmas presents or gift cards
Batteries
Christmas trees
Tree lights or outdoor lighting
Small gifts over the value of £3
Individuals, commercial enterprises, non-constituted groups
School events