Two National Lottery distributors to merge?

Howard Lake | 29 December 2002 | News

The New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and Community Fund are engaged in merger discussions. Voluntary sector publishing and training organisation The Directory of Social Change argues this represents a threat to the independence of a key source of charitable funding.

Discussions on the possible merger between the two distributors of National Lottery funding have been held as a result of the government’s Lottery Review. In a statement the two bodies say that “the merger and creation of a new Distributor is intended to lead to a reduction in the costs of Lottery distribution and increased efficiency.”

Although no decision will be taken until April 2003, the Directory of Social Change (DSC) has already criticised the proposed merger. The DSC argues that the two bodies are quite different despite the fact that they both distribute lottery funds. “The Community Fund,” says the DSC “has, until

now, operated independently of government, choosing its own mission ­to help those at greatest disadvantage in the community and developing its own widely respected programmes for doing so. NOF, on the other hand, only funds programmes decided for it by the government, often in support of other government initiatives.”

DSC opposes any merger on the grounds that it would not be in the best interests of an independent voluntary sector. If it does go ahead, however, the DSC has called for the completely independent allocation of charities’ existing percentage of lottery funds (already reduced by government to 17%) to be fully enshrined in the arrangements.

In light of the recent media campaign against the Community Fund’s funding policy, the DSC adds that any new body “must be free to maintain the Community Fund’s present and widely respected mission and to choose its own ways of implementing this.”

The DSC reports that the Board of the Community Fund will meet on 21 January to decide on whether to proceed with this project.

The statement from the New Opportunities Fund and Community Fund added that the two bodies “will be consulting the sectors affected should the merger go ahead.”

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.