The Culture & Business Scotland Fund is designed to encourage collaboration between business and culture by enabling not-for-profit organisations to give their for-profit business sponsors additional rights or benefits, helping to enhance the impact and reach of the sponsorship and cultural activity.
Not-for-profit organisations delivering cultural activity for the benefit of public audiences in Scotland can apply to the Fund for up to £1 for every £1 of business sponsorship. Organisations can apply up to two times in the financial year, provided the total Fund investment does not exceed £10,000.
We are hugely grateful to the Scottish Government for their continuing support of this unique investment programme for culture and business in Scotland.
We are pleased to announce the Culture & Business Scotland Fund is now open for 2026-27.
Thanks to this ongoing investment from the Scottish Government, the Fund will continue to support collaborative sponsorships between for-profit business sponsors and not-for-profit organisations delivering cultural activity for the benefit of public audiences in Scotland.
We make C&BS Fund investments to not-for-profit organisations delivering cultural activity in Scotland which have attracted a for-profit business to sponsor a project or aspect of their work, either in the form of cash or in-kind sponsorship.
We require all applicant organisations to have the following:
Not-for-profit organisations eligible to apply to the Culture & Business Scotland Fund are as follows:
We welcome applications which relate to one or more of the following cultural forms:
Animation Archaeology Archives & Collections Art & Health Combined Arts Community Heritage Craft Dance Design Fashion Festival Film & TV Galleries Historic Buildings & Monuments Industrial, Maritime, Transport Intangible Cultural Heritage Land & Biodiversity Libraries Literature Museums Music Street Arts Theatre Visual Arts
“… we are now far more confident in brokering and entering into future innovative sponsorship agreements.”
Fund applicant
There are two stages. We aim to respond to your Expression of Interest within 10 working days. On receipt of a full application, we aim to provide the outcome within four weeks.
Check out our full Guidelines for all of the terms and conditions relating to making an application to the Fund and receiving an investment.
Our guidelines and frequently asked questions will help you to establish whether your organisation, business sponsor and cultural activity are eligible for a Fund investment.
Wigtown Book Festival and Bladnoch Distillery came together in a partnership rooted in shared values of resilience, regeneration and pride of place. Supported by the Fund, the collaboration celebrated volunteers as the backbone of the festival while positioning Bladnoch at the heart of one of Scotland’s most distinctive cultural events. Through storytelling, sponsorship of key venues and events, and meaningful audience engagement, the partnership strengthened community connections, boosted regional visibility and demonstrated how culture and business can work together to support rural regeneration.
HebCelt and Lewis Wind Power (LWP) partnered to deliver the LWP Islands Stage – a platform dedicated to emerging and local musicians from across the Outer Hebrides. With Fund support, the partnership expanded its cultural and environmental impact, nurturing young talent, increasing community engagement, and advancing the festival’s sustainability credentials. The collaboration brought strong visibility for LWP while supporting HebCelt’s mission to celebrate Gaelic culture, creativity, and island identity. Lewis Wind Power is the developer of Stornoway wind farm, a partnership between EDF power solutions UK and ESB.
boom saloon and CreateFuture partnered to deliver 4, 4, 4 and 2, a groundbreaking cultural publication that challenges how dementia is understood, discussed and represented. Supported by the C&BS Fund, the partnership combined publishing, editorial design and lived experience with strategic business insight to extend the project’s reach far beyond traditional cultural audiences. The collaboration placed people living with dementia at the centre of public discourse, while enabling CreateFuture to demonstrate how creativity, strategy and social impact can work together to influence culture, policy and care.
