As Volunteer Week rolls out across Scotland, GalGael are happy to announce they have received multi-year support from The National Lottery Community Fund through the new Fairer Life Chances Fund, launched in Scotland last year.

GalGael Trust has been awarded £301,527 over five years for its Making Just Futures project, as part of the Fund's goal to foster "better relationships, connections, and physical or mental health".

This crucial funding has come amidst concerning national trends. A recent Volunteer Scotland report (April 2025) points to a volunteering crisis with participation rates halving since 2010; with evidence that the cost of living crisis is having significant impact. Critically, people struggling with mental health are missing out on vital wellbeing benefits (estimated to be worth £1000 per volunteer annually) when they need them most.

This is against a backdrop where new research has found that over 1 in 3 people across Scotland have sought mental health support in the past 5 years - while 51% described how they didn’t not know how to go about accessing the support they needed.

Making Just Futures directly tackles these challenges. The project creates accessible pathways into volunteering and community action, specifically designed to improve mental health, build resilience, and foster mutual support within marginalised Glasgow communities. It aims to buck the trend of lower participation in volunteering from deprived areas. 

Making Just Futures cultivates practical know-how and emotional resilience as a participatory response to poverty, ill-health and loneliness. Each year, more than 300 people across Glasgow will form new connections and reclaim agency and wellbeing through working with their hands. Along the way, people learn about self and others or connect with topics from self regulation to climate awareness. 

While the project is open to people from diverse backgrounds, it particularly sets out to support people who experience abuse, are isolated or lonely, have long term health conditions and face financial hardship. Others experience social exclusion or discrimination such as those who are homeless or dealing with addiction. Typically, people are from those communities that have not been able to access the benefits of volunteering - something the project will address.

“Thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund, and players of the National Lottery, this funding will support people to reclaim dignity and wellbeing as they mend, make, grow, bake, pickle, knit, or reuse," said Elaine Cooper, a GalGael chairperson.

“The project draws on GalGael’s nearly 30 years of experience creating supportive spaces for individuals with complex needs and addressing systemic challenges. By collaborating with partners, we aim to significantly improve life chances across Glasgow's disadvantaged communities while creating worthwhile volunteering opportunities from diverse communities. This vital work demands sustained effort, making the National Lottery's five-year commitment through the Fairer Life Chances Fund incredibly welcome."

Making Just Futures is a bold evolution of GalGael’s work, compiling decades of experience. It pioneers modes of social action beyond traditional 'service delivery', tackling both complex individual needs within marginalised communities and broader societal challenges like the cost-of-living crisis, polarisation, and climate change.

Everyone is welcome. We particularly want to welcome folk living locally and those from communities across the city struggling to get through week to week - whether due to making ends meet, overcoming addiction or just feeling a bit low. Or perhaps experiencing some form of discrimination.

Find out more here or come along for our weekly Welcome session: every Wednesday at 11 am.

Finally we wanted to say a muckle big thank you to all our volunteers of the last few years! It is no exaggeration to say we couldn’t do this work without you!!