The Enchanted Forest Community Fund launches for 2025

THE Enchanted Forest Community Trust, the charitable organisation behind Scotland’s favourite sound and light show, The Enchanted Forest, has opened applications to its 2025 Community Fund.

It is now accepting grant applications from registered charities and community interest companies (CICs) in the Highland Perthshire area for community projects that are looking to support people in need, battle child poverty, increase inclusion, and improve mental health and wellbeing in the region.

The Fund, which is now celebrating its tenth year, was set up to redistribute proceeds from the annual event to the local community in Pitlochry and the wider Highland Perthshire area. Since that time The Enchanted Forest Community Trust has reinvested over £439,000 into the region, making a lasting positive impact that has benefitted more than 185 local community groups, projects, and charities.

This year the fund is open to registered charities and community interest companies (CICs) who can apply for up to £10,000 to finance projects within Pitlochry and Highland Perthshire via an application form available on The Enchanted Forest website.

The Enchanted Forest Community Trust particularly welcomes applications from local projects that are unable to access funds from other bodies. The projects should be focused on helping people in need with the cost-of-living crisis in the Highland Perthshire area, help with battling child poverty and focus on child welfare and increase inclusion, enablement, independence, mental health and wellbeing. The Trust will also be looking for projects which increase access to employment, volunteering, learning, culture, sport, and leisure opportunities and aim to improve infrastructure which benefits the community and promotes sustainability through best practices.

Last year 26 organisations in the region benefited from the fund, including Pitlochry First Responders, a charity which assists the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) in providing SAS-trained volunteer first responders to get to an emergency scene quickly. Pitlochry First Responders administers vital lifesaving first aid in Pitlochry and the surrounding area, and they received a grant from the Enchanted Forest Community Fund in 2024 to invest in equipment that directly benefits the local community.

Chairman of Pitlochry First Responders, Duncan Sanderson, said:

“Thanks to the generous grant from The Enchanted Forest Community Trust, it allowed us to purchase crucial medical equipment including AEDs (defibrillators) and stocked kit bags for our First Responders. With this support, the essential service we offer the community by helping to save local lives, allows us to confidently attend emergency situations, being fully equipped. Having the Enchanted Forest Community Fund grant is a beacon of hope for our whole community and this support empowers us to create positive change on a life-changing scale, helping our charitable organisation grow and in turn, allowing the rural community to feel safer. We are extremely grateful for this important grant, and as we gain more volunteer Responders, providing them with medical equipment is essential to the community.”

Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is another local charity which also received a grant in 2024. It exists to free people from crippling debt, with a Highland Perthshire centre based in Aberfeldy.

Angela Hanvey, CAP Highland Perthshire Centre Manager, said:

“The funding from The Enchanted Forest Community Fund has enabled CAP Highland Perthshire to support several families and individuals through difficult financial situations.  By providing a listening ear and emotional support, as well as providing a budget and debt solution, many have reported an improvement in their mental well-being, family relationships and having hope for the first time in a long time. Some are on a long journey to finding freedom from debt but, thankfully, a few are also now debt-free and planning to stay that way following the advice and all that they have learned during their time working with CAP.”

Nela Popovic, CEO of The Enchanted Forest Community Trust, said:

“The Enchanted Forest Community Fund is our opportunity to give back to the Highland Perthshire community, which the event has called its home for the past twenty-plus years. The fund ensures that the continuing success of the event translates into a lasting legacy of support for charities and CICs that operate in Highland Perthshire. We are proud to have reinvested over £439,000 into local projects since 2015, and this year, we are again particularly keen to support initiatives that address the cost-of-living crisis, child welfare, and mental health. We urge eligible charities and CICs to apply before the deadline of 28 March 2025 and help us to help them make a meaningful difference to communities in Highland Perthshire.”

Successful applicants will be asked to provide a report to The Enchanted Forest Community Trust on how they have used the money in relation to their request.

To download an application form, please visit: www.enchantedforest.org.uk. Completed application forms should be returned no later than 28 March 2025. The successful applications will be announced on 25 April 2025.