Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival has announced that its 2026 edition helped to generate more than £265,000 in donations and support for charities and community groups across the Highlands. A further £20,000 in grant funding for local communities brings the festival’s total support for community investment for 2026 to more than £285,000.
Proudly “home-grown in the Highlands”, Belladrum has stayed rooted in its community as the festival has grown. Each year, the team donates free market stall spaces to charities and local organisations, offers free online promotion support for fundraising initiatives, and gifts more than 200 weekend tickets to help local groups and charitable organisation raise vital funds.
That commitment was recognised in September, when Belladrum won the Corporate Community Impact category, at the Highland Business Awards, organised by the Inverness Chamber of Commerce. The category honours businesses that make a difference beyond their day-to-day operations.
Naomi Hollas, Festival Co-ordinator at Belladrum, said: “Belladrum is built on community and coming together, and we’re so grateful to be able to use our platform to support so many important causes. Every donated ticket, charity stall and car parking purchase helps us support the people and places that make the Highlands and wider Scotland so special. Winning at the Highland Business Awards was a real honour, and we’ll keep giving back, for years to come.”
Some of the groups to benefit from this year’s ticket donation support include Kiltarlity Village Hall, Mikeysline, Highland Action for Little Ones, Anthony Nolan, Macmillan Cancer Support and Sophie’s Story. A large number of nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools also benefitted from ticket donations, helping them to raise essential funds through raffles and other activities across the year such as summer fetes.
In addition to helping raise £265,000 through donated tickets, stalls, and charity partnerships – Belladrum distributed £20,000 through the Belladrum Community Trust, new trust funding ring-fenced for communities local to the festival. This is the festival’s first round of funding, with further grants confirmed to be announced shortly. The funding is made possible by car parking ticket sales, first introduced in 2024.
Among the recipients of grant funding were Kirkhill Primary School, which used its grant to cover transport costs for a school trip.
Sara Cockburn, P7 Teacher and Principal Teacher at the school, said: “The Belladrum Community Trust grant was such a help! As a school, we want our pupils to have the best possible experiences, but transport costs are a huge barrier to this. Receiving this grant enabled all of our P6 and P7 pupils to access our trip to the Scottish Parliament and Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.”
In addition to the wider charity support – Belladrum selects an official charity partner each year. In 2026 the festival partnered with Cantraybridge College, with Highland Hospice recently announced as the official charity partner for 2027.
Together, this brings the total raised for local causes over the last three years (2024 to 2026) to more than £575,000.
Related
![Belladrum_600x300[1]](https://eventsbase.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Belladrum_600x3001.png "Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival Raises Nearly £200K For Local Community & Charities in 2024")