Each year for several years The Paristamen Charity has invited charities to propose an imaginative “Blue Sky” initiative as a one-off project where we say: “If we offer you £20K (or occasionally, £25K) what could you do?” in a particular field. The theme varies from year to year.
For details of previous awards see the page Blue Sky and Large Grants programmes.
In 2024 we took a slightly different approach and invited proposals from other grantmakers for a “Collaborative” grant making initiative, where The Paristamen Charity would transfer funds to another charity that would make the final awards to recipient organisations.
First Collaborative Grant confirmed
Our first Collaborative Grant began from January 2025 with a £20,000 award to the Cinnamon Network for a project entitled Christian action in Scottish local communities.
Under the grant, Cinnamon is working with five different Scottish local churches to develop Christian social action projects in their communities. Half of the Paristamen grant will be used to provide grants to the local churches concerned and the other half will fund the support that Cinnamon will provide. The project is expect to last for 18 months until summer 2026.
Final Blue Sky Grant to be awarded in 2026
The trustees have recently agreed that a final Blue Sky grant, probably for £25,000, will be awarded in 2026. This will be the last such grant prior to the wind-up of Paristamen that is now planned for 2027. The precise theme and application process and timescale are yet to be confirmed, but we welcome informal preliminary suggestions. The trustees are most likely to consider supporting a unique initiative by a Scottish-based charity with long term benefits that will link to both of our charitable objects.