Will you help? A donation today could help the Strathdon Community Development Trust continue its vital community projects.

The Strathdon Community Development Trust (SCDT) was created to help the community and local groups take forward the Strathdon Community Action Plan and to develop ideas for making the area a better place to live, work and visit. The Trust is a limited company with charitable purposes. We rely solely on donations and grants to carry out our vital role for the Strathdon community.

Over the past two years the Trust has worked hard to secure funding and deliver a number of community projects. This includes installing a snowgate webcam, building a network of community walking paths, publishing and distributing the Fits Gan Doune newsletter, holding public meetings in local community halls, securing liability insurance and recruiting 219 members. We have also set up the SCDT Facebook page, got funding to renovate the community tennis court and set up a community events calendar. The trust recently secured £5,000 from foundation scotland to help our communities response to Covid 19. The trust has already donated £2k to the Strathdon Foodbank. And donated funds to help our local village halls. The trust also hopes to donate and suport the Strathdon silver circle.

If the trust can survive one priority for the Trust is to find ways of generating a sustainable income to reinvest in the community - helping our community not just to survive but to thrive. The future prospects for the Strathdon community were challenging before the COVID-19 pandemic but now, more than ever, Strathdon faces some huge economic and social challenges.

The Trust had secured funding to investigate projects to generate some sustainable income by drawing in tourists. We were also looking at a larger mid to long term projects. But these are all currently on hokd given the current pandemic crisis. But your donation could ensure the Trusts survival and ensure that future community projects progress further.

The SCDT ability to raise general community funds has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes at a point in the Trust’s early development where there are no financial reserves and where grants are on hold or disappearing. We rely heavily on face to face events in the community such as raffles and community events to raise funds. We have calculated that just to stand still the Trust needs to generate around £2,000 a year (just to cover meeting costs, newsletter costs, public Insurance liability costs and our snowgate camera).

If the SCDT ceases to exist it seems unlikely that the development of projects to generate sustainable income for the community would be able to go ahead - leaving the Strathdon community less financially resilient and without a single focus for community activity to galvanise around.

Will you help? Even a small donation today could help ensure the survival of the Strathdon Community Development trust ensuring its vital community projects continue?

A donation could also help The Strathdon Community Trust further support the Strathdon Community Foodbank, the local village halls, the on going development of the Strathdon paths network , the continued distribution of the Strathdon newsletter.