The BBFF Fund works with charities throughout Scotland helping young people access education and training to reduce unemployment.

The money – which was raised by the sale of its subsidiary company HCF Investments Limited to the Gravis group of companies – is in addition to the nearly £2.2 million HCF has donated over the past five years.

Bill Mackintosh, chair of trustees for the Hub Community Foundation, said: “With Covid and other economic factors affecting our young people so acutely, these significant funds will hopefully help alleviate even a small part of the significant issues they’re facing.”

Hub Community Foundation (HCF) was set up in 2017 as a charitable foundation benefitting from the hub programme of community infrastructure to leverage investment rights into some of the underlying infrastructure projects delivered through this programme to raise money for good causes.

HCF set up the Building Brighter Futures Fund (BBFF) in 2019 to provide donations to a number of charities across Scotland, all of whom are working with disadvantaged young people who are furthest from education, training and the labour markets. HCF is supported in this work by Inspiring Scotland, itself a charity, which specialises in advising on charitable giving.

HCF has donated a total of £2.2m to charities over the five years. Over 3,500 young people have benefitted from the support of BBFF to date.

Charities the organisation has so far supported include: Grassmarket Community Project; Aberdeen Foyer; PEEK; Station House Media Unit; FARE; Move; Inspired Community Enterprise / The Usual Place; Kirkcaldy YMCA; Callander Youth Project Trust; and CEIS Ayrshire.