Awards for All still “extraordinarily under-applied for”
Howard Lake | 3 March 2006 | News
Luke FitzHerbert, Senior Researcher at the Directory of Social Change, reports that, due to a lack of applications, charities stand a very good chance of getting a grant from Awards for All, but only if they act this month.
In an article entitled “The Easiest Money Ever?”, Luke reports that “in most if not all English regions there is enough money for all eligible applications to be successful, so the ‘regional priorities’ are no longer being applied”. Indeed, he adds that some regions in the programme have received so few applications that their funding has been transferred to another region.
Awards for All is the Lottery grants programme aimed at local communities.
Why the lack of interest? It could be because Awards for All’s current maximum grant is for £5,000 in any 12-month period. Still there are plenty of charities for whom that is far from small beer.
This maximum will double to £10,000 in April, but Luke advises charities not to wait for that for two reasons. First, just get the money now because you can, and secondly the new system might have change the funding requirements that means your organisation is no longer eligible.
Now is the time to start taking advantage of this opportunity. You will need to supply original or certified copies of three months bank accounts, part of an attempt to tackle fraud. But as Luke commnts: “£5,000 is well worth a morning or two’s work for all charities, isn’t it?”
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.