Development Trusts Association Scotland

❗DTAS Annual Conference 2026! Booking is now OPEN❗ 📆Tuesday 1st & Wednesday 2nd September 2026 📍 Glasgow Caledonian University Bookings are now live for this year’s event! Visit our Eventbrite page to book your place! ➡ link in bio This year is set to be an exciting event, with speakers, workshops, study visits, networking and our new evening reception! Sign up now and keep your eyes on DTAS social media and website for speaker announcements! #DTAS26 Bursary applications are now also open. DTAS can only offer a limited number of bursaries. Bursaries are available to existing members or early-stage members that, without the financial support, would otherwise be unable to attend conference. If you are planning on applying for a bursary, please refrain from booking any conference tickets until you have received a decision on your bursary application. You can find more information regarding how to apply and what the bursary can cover in our Bursary Application Form 2026, available on the DTAS Annual Conference 2026 Eventbrite page and/or DTAS Website. Please send your bursary application by 13th April 2026.

❗SAVE THE DATE! DTAS Annual Conference 2026 #DTAS26 📆1st and 2nd September 2026. 📍Glasgow Caledonian University. Save the date in your diary and please join us for this year’s conference! Bookings will open in March 2026. Keep a look out on our socials and website for when tickets are live! We will be sharing other details about the event, including speakers and workshops across socials and on the DTAS website. The DTAS Annual Conference is doing things slightly differently this year! Instead of our annual dinner, we are hosting an evening reception with drinks and canapes, immediately following day one. It will be held at Glasgow Caledonian University, in the Sir Alex Ferguson Library. This will replace the dinner, which in the past has been a separate ticketed event. However, this new reception will be included with the ticket price and give everyone a chance to network and unwind after day one of the conference! We are very excited about this new element of our conference. We are sure you will be too! #DTAS26

In November last year, we visited The Cabrach Trust and their various projects. A selection: the refurbishment of the Old School building, their rural skills & heritage work, the refurbished Smiddy building, their Discovery Trail, and quite unique in the DTAS network, a distillery - part of a community-led social enterprise focused on regeneration of the Cabrach. Thank you to Sam for having us!

There are three upcoming workshops as part of the New Futures: Former Places of Worship workshop series. The workshops are free to attend, held online and will be hosted by COSS and feature specialist guest speakers. Each workshop is open to individuals and community groups interested in taking former places of worship into community ownership. More information and registration can be found at the DTAS Eventbrite page.

We visited Lairg & District Community Initiative last year, where Kirstin, the Trust's DO, showed us the different projects. Thank you Kirstin! The Trust looks after the community woodland's war memorial, shelter, bike repair station; enabled housing on the land they owned; refurbished the local playpark; delivered the Lairg Local Place Plan; provide storage for other community groups; organise Winter Fest... and much more!

There is one week to go until our Planning and Your Church workshop! You can find more information and sign up on our Eventbrite page. Planning Aid Scotland are kindly delivering this standalone workshop alongside the New Futures: Former Places of Worship workshop series to address some of the key challenges and opportunities communities will face engaging with the planning system when taking on a former place of worship. /o/development-trusts-association-scotland-61200111823

There is one week to go until the New Futures - Former Places of Worship workshop series begins. The first workshop in this series provides and overview of the first steps to community ownership. This workshop is open to any community group interested in taking ownership of a former place of worship in Scotland but will be of most help to those at the beginning of the process. You can find more information and sign up for this workshop on our Eventbrite page.

Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) is hosting our second series of informative workshops on community ownership of former places of worship as part of the New Futures: Former Places of Worship programme. To find more information and register attendance, please navigate to our Eventbrite page. More workshops to come in early 2026. /o/development-trusts-association-scotland-61200111823

It's World Mental Health Day! 💚 To raise awareness we asked our staff how they look after their wellbeing at work and wrote a blog on their stories. You can read it on our website now. How do you look after your wellbeing at work? .uk/news-item/world-mental-health-day-how-do-you-look-after-your-wellbeing-at-work/

Here are our October events! For more information and to sign up visit the link in our bio.

The second round of the Community Energy Generation Growth Fund from @The Scottish Government's Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) is now open! The fund supports community groups across Scotland to develop their own renewable energy projects, including onshore wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), hydro and other renewable technologies. If you would like to explore community shares, community bonds or the Community Benefit Society governance structure as part of an application, DTAS' Democratic Finance team can offer additional 1-1 support. Deadline for applications is Monday 8 September 2025. Go to the Local Energy Scotland website to start your application today!

It's just under three weeks until bookings close for the DTAS Annual Conference. This year, bookings will close on Monday the 11th of August. Find out more information and sign up on our Eventbrite page (link in bio).