What is a Community Anchor Organisation? 

VANL defines a Community Anchor Organisation as an organisation who are embedded in their local community with a focus on partnership working and being led by community needs. These organisations support their community through multiple, targeted supports including advice, providing local knowledge and feedback. In relation to the current round of this fund this relates to organisations who provide supports at this level across all communities within a specific locality.  

 In future cycles the hope would be to expand this to Community Anchor Organisations supporting communities defined by characteristics other than locality. 

 What are the aims of this fund? 

Community Anchor Organisations are a pillar of the community and voluntary sector. Through this fund, VANL wishes to support the development and growth of, and increase recognition of, Community Anchor Organisations. The aim is to support six organisations (one per locality) through: 

• Providing £10,000 per year for three years to support daily delivery  
• Receiving support from VANL to develop and integrate the services provided into the wider health and social care landscape 

Community Solutions will hold an information session on Friday 6th February 10am-12pm at Kirk at the Cross Church (47 Merry St, Motherwell, ML1 1JJ). To sign up, please click here.

All applications must be submitted to communitysolutions@vanl.co.uk before 5pm on 20th February 2026.

If you have any queries, please contact gordon.watson@vanl.co.uk or marta.szczepanska@vanl.co.uk