Big Lottery
Fund Update
Herts 2012
What is the Big Lottery Fund?
BIG is responsible for distributing half of the money that the
National Lottery raises for good causes.
Our mission is to bring real improvements to communities
and the lives of people most in need.
We want to use lottery money to make changes for
communities with a particular emphasis on tackling need
The Lottery £
What will BIG fund?
The Big Lottery Fund will fund projects that help achieve
one or more of the following BIG outcomes:
• People having better chances in life with better access to
training and development to improve their life skills
• Stronger communities with more active citizens working
together to tackle their problems
• Improved rural and urban environments which
communities are better able to access and enjoy
• Healthier and more active people and communities
Awards for All
Awards for All is our easy-access small grants
programme making awards between £300 and
£10,000.
What will Awards for All fund?
Awards for All projects must meet at least one of BIG’s
outcomes:
• people having better chances in life with better access to
training and development to improve their life skills
• stronger communities with more active citizens working
together to tackle their problems
• improved rural and urban environments which
communities are better able to access and enjoy
• healthier and more active people and communities
Which small Lottery grants
scheme?
Each of the main Lottery distributors runs its own small
grants scheme. To decide which to apply for, think about:
• Will the main purpose of the project help to achieve
one of the four Awards for All outcomes?
or
• Is the main purpose of the project to support sports,
arts or heritage?
What does the outcomes
approach mean?
You need to think about:
• What changes do we want to make to the lives of the
people we want to help?
• How will those changes help achieve one or more of
the four Big Lottery Fund outcomes?
Who can apply to Awards for All?
You can apply if you are a:
• voluntary and community organisation
• school
• parish or town council
• health body
You cannot apply if you are a:
• individual or sole trader
• profit-making organisation
• statutory organisation other than those listed above
• organisation not established in the UK
You can apply if..
You have:
• at least 3 unrelated people on your governing body
• a UK bank account in the name of your organisation with
at least two unrelated signatories
You can:
• send BIG an application at least three months before
your project is planned to start
• complete your project within one year of when BIG
confirms your award
How much you can apply for?
• Between £300 and £10,000
• Only one application at a time
• One Awards for All funded project needs to be completed
and the End of Grant report approved before you can
apply again
• One organisation cannot receive more than £10,000 of
Awards for All grants in any one year period.
What Awards for All can pay for?
Examples of what a grant could pay for:
• equipment hire or purchase
• information technology equipment
• sessional workers
• updating equipment and premises for health and safety
reasons
• training
• volunteer expenses
• transport costs
• venue hire
• building and refurbishment work
VAT and buildings
• BIG will only fund non-recoverable VAT.
• Any planning permission needed must be in place before
making an application.
• For building projects, applicants must own their own
freehold or hold a lease that will continue for at least five
years.
• Total costs of building works must not be more than
£25,000 (including VAT).
Awards for All cannot pay for
• Activities that happen or start before BIG confirms the
grant
• Day-to-day running costs
• Existing activities and repeat or regular events
• Items that mainly benefit an individual
• Building and refurbishment work costing more than
£25,000 (inc. VAT)
Awards for All cannot pay for
(continued)
• Salaries of permanent or fixed term staff
• Projects or activities that the state has a legal obligation to
provide
• Political or religious activities
• Routine repairs and maintenance
• Fundraising activities
• Used vehicles
Application process
You read our guide
You send us your application
We let you know our decision
30 working
days
You send the documents we ask for
20 working
days
We confirm the grant
10 working
days
You start your project
Improving your chances
BIG scores applications to help decide who should be
funded. Applications will score higher if they:
• show strong evidence of need
• seek to involve as wide a range of people as possible
• meet more than one of our outcomes
• are from groups that have never received an Awards for
All grant
• are from groups with a smaller annual income
• are for smaller projects
Things to double-check
• Is the name of your organisation on your application form,
bank account and governing document exactly the same?
• Are you asking for an item or activities that Awards for All
can fund?
• Have you filled in all sections of the form?
• Does your main contact know all about your project?
• Will your main contact be available during the assessment
and grant confirmation period?
Make sure you allow enough time!
• BIG will take up to six weeks to assess the application
• If a conditional offer is made, additional documents will
be requested
• BIG will take up to two weeks to assess the additional
documents
• You must allow at least three months between
submitting your application and when you need your grant
Further information and advice
Website: www.awardsforall.org.uk
Phone: BIG Advice Line 0845 4 10 20 30
Text phone: 0845 6 02 16 59
Richard Weller – 01223 449020
Other Lottery distributors:
Arts Council England:
www.artscouncil.org.uk
Heritage Lottery Fund: www.hlf.org.uk
Sport England:
www.sportengland.org
Reaching Communities
Overview
Reaching Communities
The Reaching Communities programme has two
strands:
Reaching Communities – funding from £10,000 to
£500,000 for revenue projects and /or smaller capital
projects of between £10,000 and £50,000
Reaching Communities buildings – funding of
between £100,000 and £500,000 for large capital
projects -
Reaching Communities
People having better chances in life, with better
access to training and development to improve
their life skills
Stronger communities, with more active citizens,
working together to tackle
their problems
Improved rural and urban environments, which
communities are better able to access and enjoy
Healthier and more active people
and communities
Who can apply?
Registered charities
Charitable or not-for-profit organisations or companies
Social enterprises
Statutory bodies including schools
What can be funded?
• Revenue and capital costs
• Up to five years’ funding
• Grants between £10,000 and £500,000
• Total project cost (all sources of funding) must not
be more than £750,000
• Capital element of the project must not be more
than £200,000, of which up to £50,000 can come
from Reaching Communities
• Associated organisational costs - principle of full cost
recovery
• Existing projects as well as new
Every project needs to show
It is tackling a community need
It is offering solutions to meet those needs
How the community has and will be involved
How it will continue after the grant is finished
We will look at:
• Evidence of need
• Extent to which desired outcomes will make a
real difference
• Project outcomes
• Link with programme outcomes
• Link between outcomes and activities
• Beneficiary involvement
• Amount of previous funding to local area
• Other relevant funded projects
How to apply
Stage one – outline proposal form
Applicants need to tell BIG about the project they
would like funding for, what difference it would make
and how they know it is needed.
Within 20 working days, BIG will tell the applicant if
their project is one that the committee might
consider funding.
If so, you will be invited to submit a full application
If not, Big will tell you why they are not inviting you to
submit a full application form and give you feedback
about your project
Projects can reapply taking account of feedback
Case study: The Women’s Project
The project
This project will work with young women
experiencing social exclusion and lacking in
aspiration.
Case study: The Women’s Project
Aim: To reduce social isolation and teenage
pregnancy amongst young women.
Activities: One-to-one support sessions  Group
work  Outings
Outcomes: After using the project young women
will be more: confident  aware of alternatives to
being a young parent  ambitious  able to access
training.
We will look at:
• Evidence of need
• Extent to which desired
outcomes will make a real
difference
• Project outcomes
• Link with programme outcomes
• Link between outcomes and
activities
• Beneficiary involvement
• Amount of previous funding to
local area
• Other relevant funded projects
Case Study: The Befriending
Service
The project
This older people’s befriending scheme has
two paid workers and many volunteers. The
volunteers visit people at home and
organise outings.
Overall aim
To enable older people to continue living
independently.
Case Study: The Befriending
Service
Outcomes for older people
Older people are less:
socially isolated;
lonely;
vulnerable to, and frightened of, crime; and
anxious
How to apply:
Stage two – full application
• Projects will have 4 months to submit a full application
• Two different application forms for projects depending
on amount requested – proportionate approach
• ALL projects involving land & buildings – longer route
What is the problem?
What is the problem?
How do you know that this is a
problem?
What is the problem?
What is the solution?
How do you know that this is a
problem?
What is the problem?
How do you know that this is a
problem?
What is the solution?
How do you know that this is
the solution?
What is the problem?
How do you know that this is a
problem?
What is the solution?
How do you know that this is
the solution?
What are the changes that this
project will bring about?
What is the problem?
How do you know that this is a
problem?
What is the solution?
How do you know that this is
the solution?
What are the changes that this
project will bring about?
How will you measure those
changes?
Useful reading:
‘Getting Funding and Planning Successful Projects’
outcomes guide
Mind the Gap : Funders guide to full cost recovery
Guidance on Child Protection policies
Sustainable development
Key messages
• We want to make more Reaching Communities
awards here.
• Talk to us about your project.
Further information:
BIG Lottery Fund website
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Richard Weller
01223 449020
Text phone
0845 6 02 16 59
E-mail
general.enquiries@biglotteryfund.org.uk