Awards for All
Glenn Austin
Policy and Learning Officer
Today’s Learning
─ You will have a better understanding of the Big Lottery
Fund, and of the current funding environment.
─ You will have a better understanding of Awards for All,
and if it is the right programme for you.
─ You will have an increased understanding of how to
strengthen your application, and greater confidence to
apply.
How the Lottery pound is spent
─ Camelot (0.5 pence)
─ Prize money (50 pence)
─ Taxes (12 pence)
─ Retailer (5 pence)
─ Administration (4.5 pence)
─ Good causes (28 pence)
Understanding the Funder
Big Lottery Fund: Mission Statement
‘Bringing about real change to communities and to the lives
of those most in need’
Outcomes Funder
Community learning
and creating
opportunity
Promoting
community safety
and cohesion
Promoting well
being
Outcome 1
Outcome 2
Outcome 3
Outcome 4
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
Understanding: The Funding
Environment
Snapshot: South East Awards for All programme April 2009
to April 2012
─ Requested £29,920,181
─ Actual spend £15,284,375
─ South East application success rate over life of programme
50% approx (currently better at 55%)
The Art Group
With £4,260 from Awards for All,
this group in Brighton ran art
workshops for people suffering
from arthritis who are often
socially isolated as they have to
give up work. The monthly
sessions were led by local artists
and covered everything from
water colours to mosaics. At the
end of the year, their artwork was
displayed in the Brighton Festival.
Football for All
The Dartford Ladies Football Club
was awarded £4,898 from Awards
for All to run football classes for
young people with physical and/or
learning disabilities. The sessions
increase the confidence of the
players, improve their skills and
eventually get them to the point
where they can play a full game
of football.
Awards for All – Outcomes
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
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
Please see Good
Governance Guide
Awards for All - 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.
Change - £10,000 in one
year period
What can Awards for All pay for?
Examples of what a grant could pay for:
─ equipment hire or purchase
─ information technology equipment
─ building and refurbishment work
─ sessional workers
─ updating equipment and premises for health and safety reasons
─ training
─ volunteer expenses
─ transport costs
─ venue hire
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).
Examples of what 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 (unless 3
years since taken place or delivered to new beneficiary
types)
─ Items that mainly benefit an individual
─ Building and refurbishment work costing more than
£25,000 (inc. VAT)
Repeat activities (see
guidance page 9)
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
You send the documents we ask for
We confirm the grant
You start your project
30
20
10
• working days
• working days
• working days
Awards for All - 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
The scoring guide used
to assess Awards for All is
on the website
Common Mistakes
─ Not understanding what Awards for All can fund
─ Applications incomplete on first submission
─ Not returning requested documents at conditional offer
stage.
Common Reject Reasons
─ Outside programme remit - apply for things we do not
fund (more suited to another lottery distributor)
─ Insufficient evidence of need
─ Does not make link between project’s outcomes and
programme outcomes
Why do you need to evidence
need?
─ High demand for limited resources
─ Prove your project will make a difference
─ Prove that you haven’t presumed what the community
needs
─ Prove that your project is the best way of addressing the
need identified – what are the alternatives?
─ Prove that you understand the community and their needs
What sources can you use to
evidence need?
─ Strategies - generic and specialist
─ Statistics and area or community profile
─ Research (reports, surveys etc)
─ Consultation and community involvement
─ Other existing services/current provision (or lack of)
─ Evaluation of existing services
─ Letters of support
─ Anecdotal evidence
Explaining outcomes
18 years old, mental
health issues, sits at
home isolated from
peers, lacks
confidence, low self
esteem, dropped out
of education/training
Explaining outcomes
Activities:
•Drop in/coffee and chat
•Accompanied walks to shops
•Hill walking
•IT training (games, surfing, music)
•Expert speakers
18 years old, mental
health issues, sits at
home isolated from
peers, lacks
confidence, low self
esteem, dropped out
of education/training
Explaining outcomes
18 years old, mental
health issues, sits at
home isolated from
peers, lacks
confidence, low self
esteem, dropped out
of education/training
Activities:
•Drop in/coffee and chat
•Accompanied walks to shops
•Hill walking
•IT training (games, surfing, music)
•Expert speakers
Project outcomes:
•Feels less isolated
•Increase in confidence
•Increased self esteem
•Increased skills
•Increased understanding
Explaining outcomes
18 years old, mental
health issues, sits at
home isolated from
peers, lacks
confidence, low self
esteem, dropped out
of education/training
Activities:
•Drop in/coffee and chat
•Accompanied walks to shops
•Hill walking
•IT training (games, surfing, music)
•Expert speakers
Project outcomes:
•Feels less isolated
•Increase in confidence
Links to
•Increased self esteem
•Increased skills
•Increased understanding
Programme outcomes:
•Healthier and more
active people
•People having better
chances in life
Explaining outcomes
18 years old, mental
health issues, sits at
home isolated from
peers, lacks
confidence, low self
esteem, dropped out
of education/training
Activities:
•Drop in/coffee and chat
•Accompanied walks to shops
•Hill walking
•IT training (games, surfing, music)
•Expert speakers
Project outcomes:
•Feels less isolated
•Increase in confidence
Links to
•Increased self esteem
•Increased skills
•Increased understanding
Programme outcomes:
•Healthier and more
active people
•People having better
chances in life
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?
─ BIG has changed the rules on referees- no longed required
at application form stage
─ 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