Big Lottery Fund to launch improved version of Reaching Communities programme
Howard Lake | 10 February 2010 | News
The BIG Lottery Fund will invest at least £100 million a year for five years across England in an improved version of its Reaching Communities programme.
Under the new scheme applicants seeking smaller sums of money will experience a simpler application and assessment process.
Also, an improved decision making process will ensure that all applicants will learn at an early stage whether their project is in with a chance of receiving funding. Consequently, those invited to the second stage will know that their chances of success are much higher.
A third improvement, due to be implemented later this year, will be a dedicated capital stream respond to the considerable demand for funding for community buildings.
These changes have been introduced following the Fund’s BIG Thinking consultation last year. Over 75% of respondents said that it was better to give early decisions on applications, including rejecting those likely to be unsuccessful, based on a few key questions at the enquiry stage.
The main aim of Reaching Communities is “to help bring real improvements to communities and to the lives of people most in need”. Over 1,400 awards totalling £336 million have been made across England since the first award was announced in 2006.
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
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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.