About the C&BS Fund

Making a positive & sustainable impact

From city landmarks to national festivals, and from pushing musical boundaries to adopting new technologies, C&BS Fund supported projects are nothing if not diverse.

However, every project has one thing in common – the impact it makes on Scotland’s cultural life and on our people. The C&BS Fund doesn’t simply bring culture closer to business, it brings culture closer to everyone.

Investing in culture

By providing £ for £ match funding for eligible culture projects, sponsored by eligible business organisations, the C&BS Fund aims to:

  • support culture and business organisations to come together to build new cross-sector partnerships or cement existing ones with continued support;
  • encourage and support businesses that are not yet involved in sponsoring or investing in cultural activities in Scotland to do so;
  • encourage and enable businesses who are already involved in sponsorship or investment to continue this involvement with existing and/or new culture sector partners; and
  • attract non-Scottish based organisations in the business sector to sponsor arts and heritage activities in Scotland.


The C&BS Fund is designed to support culture organisations involved in the following disciplines:


Animation | Archaeology | Archives & collections | Art & health | Combined arts | Community heritage | Craft | Dance | Design | Fashion | Festivals (including youth, community, film, general, literature, military, music & ethnic) | Film & TV | Galleries | Historic buildings & monuments | Industrial, maritime & transport | Intangible heritage (including stories, traditions & concepts) | Land & biodiversity (including urban green spaces & parks) | Libraries | Literature | Music | Museums | Street arts | Theatre | Visual arts

How the fund works

If a culture organisation attracts an eligible business to sponsor an aspect of their work, then the C&BS Fund could match the value of that sponsorship, £ for £ with the match funding going towards the culture organisation’s project or activities.

The business sponsor receives an agreed package of benefits in recognition of the fact that their investment has enabled this match funding and heightened the impact of the project or activities.

The maximum match funding a culture organisation can apply for is £14,000 and the minimum is £1,000. Both cash and in-kind sponsorship by the business sponsor are eligible and must come from the sponsor’s own funds, goods or services.

If there is more than one business sponsoring the same culture project or activity, a separate application must be made with each business.

Full eligibility criteria and terms and conditions can be found in our C&BS Application Guidelines. Please read thoroughly before beginning your application!

What is business sponsorship?

Business sponsorship differs from earned income, subsidies, grants or donations. It’s a specific way of directing much-needed funding into culture activities, with the business organisation receiving clearly defined benefits in return. We define it as:

“The payment of funds or goods-in-kind by a business organisation to a culture organisation in exchange for agreed benefits. These benefits might include promotion of the business’s name, products or services. The sponsorship provided must be part of the business’s general promotional expenditure and can address its promotional work, corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and/or staff development.”

For the cultural project or activity being sponsored, the match funding provided through the C&BS Fund may be used to get a project off the ground or take it to a wider audience; to buy materials or equipment or to pay for venue hire; or to cover key contributors’ fees or enhance presentation or production qualities.

How much match funding can a culture organisation apply for?

Match funding of between £1,000 and £14,000 (excluding VAT) is available across two tiers:

  • Smaller funds of between £1,000 and £3,000 (excluding VAT)
  • Larger funds of between £3,000 and £14,000 (excluding VAT)

A culture organisation can receive C&BS Fund match funding up to the value of £14,000 in any one financial year. The year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and applicants can make multiple applications in the same financial year with either an existing or new business sponsor, providing the total sum applied for is £14,000 or under. A business sponsor can only receive match funding benefits, through the C&BS Fund, capped at a total value of £14,000 in any financial year. This can be set against sponsorship support for one or a number of culture organisations.

Contact Us

For more information or for help and advice

Help

For help and advice when completing your application