FUNDING: £17m to fund 650 community projects

Posted by Joe Gardham on October 27, 2011

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has revealed it is to award an additional £50 million of grants to support England's voluntary and community sector through the impact of funding cuts. The funding will be allocated before the end of the financial year, strengthening the sector as it deals with the developing impact of budget cuts.

As part of the funding package, BIG has made £17 million available to fund an additional 650 charitable and community projects through its two main open grants programmes, Reaching Communities and Awards for All. The grants are designed to help the sector meet increased demand for support from communities and individuals most in need.

Additionally BIG will be offering grants of up to £10,000 to close to 1,000 existing BIG grant holders in the last 18 months of their projects to review the way they work and explore ways of becoming more sustainable. This can help the recipients develop a more effective operating model, partnership working, or finding new ways to deliver future projects.

Projects that are having a particularly significant impact will also receive an additional year's worth of funding to continue their project and carry out plans to make their projects more sustainable.

Nat Sloane, Chair of BIG's England Committee, said:

"We have listened to the sector who have made it very clear that the next few months are going to be a very difficult. There is likely to be a gradual and cumulative impact as services reduce or are withdrawn, and household income for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people and families in our society reduces further still.

"We have put a package together in response that allows us to support these services and projects to ensure they are getting the funding when they need it and to help them prepare for the increasingly difficult funding environment."

The full impact on the cutbacks is still to come according to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) which estimates that voluntary and community groups will face a reduction in public funding of over £900 million by 2016, losing a total of £2.8 billion in that period.

NCVO Chief Executive, Sir Stuart Etherington, welcomed the announcement:

"This funding will provide some welcome relief for the sector during these challenging times, and help voluntary organisations to continue providing vital services."