Grassroots Heritage in Scotland Online Training

Since September 2024, the Scottish Community Heritage Alliance's Grassroots Heritage in Scotland project has held 12 roadshows and 6 online discussion sessions, inviting community heritage organisations nationwide to tell us about their current situation and the challenges they face.  Based on the leading issues to emerge from these, we have produced 3 online training sessions, designed as a starting point for solutions and assistance to help tackle these challenges.  They are delivered by people and organisations that specialise in specific, relevant aspects of the topics, and there will be opportunities to ask each of our speakers for additional guidance on your heritage group's circumstances. 

The dates are:
21st October - Funding
6th November - Volunteering
11th November - Communications

The sessions are open to all, free to attend and are delivered by Zoom at 2-4pm on the specified dates.  We invite you to sign up to as many of these as you would like, simply by emailing scottishcommunityheritgae@gmail.com.  The programmes for each of the sessions can be found below.

21st October: Funding
2pm: Introduction
2.15pm: Grant Funding, led by Frazer Gibson, Grants Team at Historic Environment Scotland.
The funding session opens with a presentation on grant funding, with a particular focus on funding offered by Historic Environment Scotland, as well as signposting to others.
2.45pm: Budgeting, led by Dr Susan Kruse, Treasurer for the Scottish Community Heritage Alliance
A tutorial on how to cost a project.
3.15pm: Social Enterprise, led by Chris Martin, CEO of Social Enterprise Scotland
An introduction to social enterprise in the heritage sector, the benefits it can bring, how to get started and what support is available.
3.40pm: Diversify Your Funding Sources, led by Martin Sim, from Stonehaven Fireballs Association
A case study of success in supporting a community heritage association through a varied range of fundraising methods. Martin will inspire you to 'think outside the box.'

6th November: Volunteering
2pm: Introduction
2.15pm: Engaging, Motivating and Retaining Volunteers, led by TBC
A presentation and Q&A on realising the potential of volunteering to transform heritage organisations. lives and communities, through engaging and motivating new and existing volunteers.
2.45pm: Inclusive Volunteering, led by Erin Burke, Campaign Coordinator for Make Your Mark
An introduction to Make Your Mark, which promotes volunteering opportunities for all and encourages a diverse range of potential volunteers. Erin also presents the case study of inclusive volunteering on the Scottish Stonemasons' Marks project. This is a pre-recorded presentation as Erin is unable to make the date.
3pm: Volunteer Practice, led by Volunteer Scotland
An introduction to volunteer practice, including volunteer management, policies and conditions.
3.30pm: Volunteering Troubleshooting, led by the Scottish Community Heritage Alliance
Volunteer recruitment, retention and management are not without challenges. This roundtable discussion focuses on potential pitfalls, solutions and available support.

11th November: Communications
2pm: Introduction
2.15pm: Social Media for Heritage Organisations, led by Dr Laura Ferguson from the Scottish Community Heritage Alliance
Learn about popular social media platforms and how to use them to your heritage organisation's advantage.
2.45pm: The Golden Rules of Interpretive Writing, led by Vee Walker, author, editor and interpretive consultant
Presentation on writing interpretive text for heritage, with the chance to ask questions about writing for your own organisation.
3.15pm: An Introduction to Podcast Training, led by Barry Davidson from the Living Memory Association
An introduction to the LMA's popular podcast training, followed by a Q&A.
3.30pm Social Media, Marketing & Engagement Troubleshooting, led by Laura Ferguson and Neil Smith from the Scottish Community Heritage Alliance
A roundtable discussion session where we talk about challenges and experiences with social media, marketing and engagement.


We hope you will join us for one or more of these sessions.