Young people to help decide on Lottery funding for youth projects

Howard Lake | 16 May 2005 | News

Young people will have direct input into decision making about who benefits from £40 million of lottery cash over the next two years, following a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund and Youthbank UK.

Following a grant to Youthbank UK, young people will have a direct say on where the Lottery money is spent in their local areas by participating in decision making panels in addition to being part of the projects and bids.

This particpatory approach is a key element of the Big Lottery’s Young People’s Fund.

Experienced grantmakers aged 13 to 25 years old have already been taking up places on nine English Regional panels formed by the Big Lottery Fund. These will meet every six weeks to allocate the money to local groups working with younger people.

In each region these new decision making groups are made up of adults and young people who all have grantmaking expertise. The adults bring expertise from the voluntary and community sector, the youth work sector, the public sector and the Big Lottery Fund.

Applications are made via the Big Lottery Fund offices and are assessed by grants officers before being taken to the panels who then work together to decide which organisations get funded.

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.