Trusts and foundations

In 2024, Shelter was thrilled to receive an award from Postcode Support Trust, thanks to funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Rather than being assigned to a specific region or project, this flexible funding plays the vital role of supporting our wider aims. This allows Shelter and Shelter Scotland to choose where to invest the funding. We do this by calculating which activities will make the biggest difference.

One area of work where this funding is being allocated is our campaigning work. Every year, we mobilise thousands of people affected by the housing emergency to come together, share their stories, and speak truth to power.

Find out more about the People's Postcode Lottery — Postcode Support Trust.

The National Lottery Community Fund first funded Shelter Scotland’s work with families in Glasgow in 2019. Through their ongoing support, the National Lottery Community Fund has enabled our staff to continue building strong connections with families at risk of homelessness or unfit, unsafe housing.

Our latest National Lottery funded project in Glasgow, 'A Future for Families', helps individual families gain a deeper understanding of their housing rights, what the law says, and how they can advocate for themselves. This project ends in 2025.

Through this project, we have connected families in similar circumstances — such as living with damp and disrepair — helping them to feel less alone and to discover new sources of support. This has also created opportunities for families to meet with local housing providers and share their experiences, driving forward positive change for other families in Glasgow.

The W M Sword Charitable Trust has generously funded the salary of one of our Housing Rights Workers in Dundee. 

Our Housing Rights Workers are experts in their field. They not only work with people who need support now, but also help us gather insight into the housing system in Scotland and what can be done to change it for others in the future.  

The Housing Rights Worker supported by the Trust first came to Shelter Scotland for advice when they were homeless. With the support of our Dundee hub, they worked to become a Lived Experience Peer. From this position, they gained skills, confidence, and training to become a Development Worker for the project, and then a Housing Rights Worker. 

The longstanding support of the W M Sword Charitable Trust towards our work truly makes a difference in helping us to be there for people in their time of need and is deeply appreciated. 

With constant updates and changes to legislation, we need to make sure our frontline staff are equipped with all the information needed to help private sector renters.  

To support this continuous learning, the Safe Deposits Scotland Charitable Trust has funded a Learning Officer post. Their role is to collate information, create content, and develop training sessions and resources on issues faced by people renting privately.

Supported by the Learning Officer, our frontline staff have increased knowledge of the private rental sector and are better able to support tenants to understand their rights. With this project, knowledge of the legal rights of those who hold private rental tenancies will increase in the wider housing sector across Scotland.

Find out more about Safe Deposits Scotland Charitable Trust.

The Legal Education Foundation funded Shelter Scotland’s Housing Law Service to create The National Legal Education Programme of Homelessness Law. This programme was created to educate the housing and charity sector on homelessness law, so we can all work together to provide more effective advocacy and representation for those most in need.  

This programme helped improve referral pathways and systems, as well as increasing the understanding of legal and court processes across Scotland.  

Through this programme, we were able to help support housing rights advocates across the sector and allow support workers to use the law to prevent and challenge homelessness.

Find out more about The Legal Education Foundation.

We are grateful to the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust for supporting our partnership with Heriot Watt University and Cemvo Scotland, resulting in our joint report 'Minoritised ethnic groups access to social housing in Scotland'.

This project has pulled together insights from the housing sector and beyond on the barriers faced by minority ethnic groups in accessing social housing in Scotland. Through establishing a Peer Advisory Group, we have recruited key organisations to participate, such as the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities), ALACHO (Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers) and the Scottish Government.

Find out more about abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.