Some of Scotland's most senior executives will be parachuted into depressed areas to boost innovative third sector projects, in the ground- breaking Pilotlight scheme being launched in Edinburgh this week.

Bank of Scotland, ScottishPower and a raft of major organisations which could include the Scottish Executive, are racing to sign up to the initiative which will see high- flying managers, just below board level, transfer skills to projects working with disadvantaged people in Scotland.

The tightly-controlled Pilotlight model, which has already undergone a successful six-month test run, asks companies to buy places for individuals who commit three hours a month to working in teams of four, coaching charity managers.

Up to 40 carefully-screened charities stand to benefit over the next two years. So far participants include The Yard, a play facility in Edinburgh for children with physical or learning difficulties, the Jeely Piece, working in Castlemilk, Glasgow with children from addiction backgrounds, and Scottish Sport Futures, which runs "twilight basketball" events in Glasgow which have been proved to reduce the youth crime rate.

Angela McCusker, chief executive of Pilotlight Scotland, said the model sprang from research which showed that when seed funding for innovative social enterprises ran out, "charities lack the skills and resources to be able to build a sustainable future". Businesses, though willing to become directly involved in communities, needed reassurances over time commitment and effectiveness.

"Normally relationships will last between 12 and 18 months," McCusker said. "We want people who have developed and implemented strategy, and who have run and managed teams. What we want to do is lay foundations like a long-term strategy and business plan."

The charities selected will be at least two years old with a turnover of less than £3m and a full-time member of staff, and be involved in human disadvantage.

Pilotlight backers Laidlaw Youth Trust and Communities Scotland will also nominate charities.

"One of the things our corporate members like is working with peers from other organisations, so there is a skills transfer within the team of four, as well as with the charity," McCusker said.

Pilotlight's role is to manage the diaries of the corporate team, facilitate the meetings, and monitor implementation and outcomes at the coal face. "That helps charities, who can go to their funders and produce evidence that what they do works, that they have a structure and a vision for what they are doing."