Supporting big hearts at Big Hearts - Angus Robertson

Alan Gray, Deputy CEO, Health All Round (left) and Craig Wilson, CEO, Big Hearts (right) with Angus Robertson

For many years, Big Hearts has been much more than a football charity. It is a vital support network for people across our city, reaching out to some of the most isolated and vulnerable individuals and families.

Whether through welcoming refugees and asylum seekers, supporting kinship carers, or tackling loneliness among older people, Big Hearts plays a crucial role in improving lives every single day.

Their work doesn’t happen in isolation. Big Hearts is a key touch point for many other grassroots charities and community initiatives across Edinburgh and beyond, as this event showed. This collaborative approach strengthens the wider social support network that so many people in our city rely on.

But like many third sector organisations, Big Hearts faces the ongoing uncertainty of precarious funding via the Integrated Joint Board of Edinburgh Council. The reality is that, without the right support, life-changing and life-saving charities like this could be forced to scale back their work — or worse, close their doors altogether. Edinburgh simply cannot afford to lose such essential services.

I will continue to advocate strongly for stable, sustainable funding for Big Hearts and for the many other charities across Edinburgh doing incredible work in our communities. They deserve clarity, commitment, and the resources they need to keep making a difference.