SLIDE 1 Welcome/Intro/my role in NW and Ncl.
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Welcome/Intro/my role in NW and Ncl. If I don’t know the answer to anything I’ll get back to you. Don’t worry about writing down everything I say. Presentation and further guidance will be emailed to you. Please keep any general questions you have until the end
- f the presentation, we’ll be around for a while for
project specific questions. The Big Lottery Fund is the largest distributor of lottery funding in the UK-giving approx £500 million per year. £4.4 billion to date. We have now reached £27 billion raised for the National Lottery good causes (Nov 2011).
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Slide 1 c1
cmcghee, 04/10/2011
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The two main streams of funding available at the moment
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The two main streams of funding available at the moment are Awards for All and Reaching Communities. This presentation will give you an overview of both Outcomes What makes a good application with hints and tips and common mistakes Activities – fun no need to worry!
SLIDE 4 Now, I mentioned at the start that I was from the Big Lottery
- Fund. Hopefully most of you have heard of Big Lottery
Fund before, for those who haven’t I can tell you that Big Lottery Fund is the largest distributor of lottery funding in the UK-giving out approx £500million per year. So, does anyone have any idea how each lottery pound is divided up?
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How much of each pound you spend on the lottery do you think goes towards the prize fund? (50p) And how much to good causes? 28pence (BIG currently gets 13p which is 46%-the rest is distributed between the
- ther lottery distributors, Arts Council, Heritage Lottery
Fund and Sport England) The remaining 22p is divided between the treasury which gets 12p, the shop who sold you the ticket who gets 5p and Camelot who get 5p for running the lottery.
SLIDE 5 One way of thinking about change for people is to imagine One way of thinking about change for people is to imagine
- ne of your beneficiaries walking through the door to
your organisation for the first time and then walking out again after a week, month, year....
- What are they doing when they first come in? How do
they engage/not? How do you know they have needs?
- How would you answer these questions at the end of
the project? What’s the difference in terms of their skills, attitude or knowledge?
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SLIDE 6 So for example, this is John. He has been referred to a So for example, this is John. He has been referred to a local charity by his doctor. He is an 18 year old with mental health issues. He lacks confidence and has low self esteem and so doesn’t go out or mix with his
- peers. He’s dropped out of education and has no job.
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SLIDE 7 These are the changes that the group want to bring about These are the changes that the group want to bring about for John through their project. The general outcomes of the project. You will need to expand on these but they are the starting point.
- He feels less isolated e.g. has made friends
- He has shown an increase in confidence e.g. ventures
- ut on his own
- Increased self esteem e.g. he wants to get more
involved with the project and has taken up new hobbies
- He and his family have an increased understanding of
the issues he has faced so they are able to work together to tackle these
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SLIDE 8 The charity has recently seen a number of similar cases The charity has recently seen a number of similar cases and so decides to set up a series of activities to help people like John:
- Drop in/coffee and chat – to help him feel less isolated
- Accompanied walks to shops – to begin to build his
confidence
- Hill walking – to give him a sense of achievement,
belief in himself (raised self esteem)
- IT training (games, surfing, music, skills) – to begin to
generate an interest in learning again
- Expert speakers – to help him and his family to
understand the issues he has and how he can
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John leaves the project a very different man to when he John leaves the project a very different man to when he first walked through the door…. Perhaps he even wants to become involved in running the project to help others – beneficiary involvement….
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SLIDE 10 Some practical tips on how to write outcomes: Some practical tips on how to write outcomes:
- Wording is important. The words need to indicate the fact
that you’re working towards change, to emphasise this change use words like more, better, increased, reduced, improved.
- Do your outcomes link logically to the need you have
identified?
- Are your outcomes short and clear?
Structure - An easy way to think about outcomes is by thinking about who will benefit, how things will change, and what will change:
- 1. Who should relate to the people or organisations who
will benefit, and should be specific e.g. Local families with autistic children.
- 2. ‘How’ should relate to change or difference, such as
improving, reducing, expanding;
- 3. ‘What’ should tell us what is going to change –
- pportunities, skills, knowledge, confidence, access to
services.
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You should ask yourself this question – if your outcome You should ask yourself this question – if your outcome answers the question then it is probably an outcome, if not what do you need to add? Outcome is not an activity or aim. So what example: Young people have increased access to physical activity – so what. Young people have increased access to physical activity leading to increased health and well-being.
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SLIDE 12 BIG describes itself as an outcomes funder which means that we’re interested in the difference or change that your project is going to make to the lives of the the difference or change that your project is going to make to the lives of the beneficiaries. We are committed to bringing real improvements to communities, and to the lives
- f people most in need and have four organisational outcomes to help us achieve
this. The programme outcomes for Awards for All and Reaching Communities are the same as our organisational outcomes. 11
SLIDE 13 A4A programme currently running at 55% success rate Incredibly popular small grants programme. Quick turnaround, small application form. £144m worth of grants across England.
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FUNDING: April 2010 – 31 Dec 2011 NW total of 52%. Average award £8,071
SLIDE 14 Awards for All started back in 1999 to help fund projects to celebrate the new Millennium. However, it was so popular that it has continued, in various forms right up to today. For most of the time the programme has been run as a joint programme with the other lottery distributors-this meant that whatever type of project you wanted to run, be it arts, sports, education, environmental, health or heritage you could come to Awards for All to request funding. Today, Awards for All is no longer a joint programme, and it is delivered solely by Big Lottery Fund. Other funders run their own grants programmes so this means that you may need to go to another funder depending on what your project wants to do. In very simple terms, Arts Council England fund arts projects, Heritage Lottery Fund will make grants for historic
- r heritage projects and Sport England will fund sports
- C. McGhee Nov 2011
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projects. BUT And here’s where it gets a little complicated so listen up…if your project simply uses art or sport for example as a way
- f engaging with a particular audience, and the main focus
- f your project helps to address one of the outcomes of the
Awards for All programme which I will mention later then you can still apply to Awards for All. For example: ‘Local FC’ want a grant to run a football coaching course for local children-to help them improve their game and techniques so they can compete in a local league. Such an application would need to go to Sport England, as it is primarily about developing sport. However
SLIDE 15 So, who can apply to Awards for All?
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So, who can apply to Awards for All? Well, Awards for All is open to Voluntary Groups, Schools, Parish or Town councils and Health bodies. You don’t need to be a registered charity or company. Are there any Schools, Parish or Town Councils or Health Body representatives here today? If so, then it’s worth mentioning that although Awards for All can fund you, it cannot fund you for things that the state should normally pay for. That means no curriculum course books, no medical equipment etc. Also any project we fund schools for must take place outside of curriculum time-so either before/after school, lunchtimes, weekends or school holidays are fine!
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Pls note that the two contacts on the application cannot be the same person. The senior contact MUST be a director or senior management committee member senior contact MUST be a director or senior management committee member (head teacher for schools). 15
SLIDE 17 Awards for All gives grants of between £300 and £10,000.
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Awards for All gives grants of between £300 and £10,000. Each organisation is able to have a maximum of £10,000 in a one year period. EOG must be signed off before you re- apply and this must be for a different project. Three years to apply for repeat activities. All grant money must be spent within 12 months! Also, each organisation is allowed to apply for and have
- ne grant at a time. So, make sure what you are applying
for is definitely what you need the most! Also, if you are from a larger organisation such as a school, make sure your project is definitely the priority as once you have the grant it will stop any other part of your organisation applying.
SLIDE 18 For a project to be funded by Awards for All it must meet at least one of the four programme outcomes. The programme outcomes are: People having better chances in life with better access to training and development to improve their life skills For example: A community drama group that wants to develop drama classes for young people from a deprived neighbourhood to help them
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classes for young people from a deprived neighbourhood to help them explore difficult situations they have experienced and learn to cope with their problems. Stronger communities with more active citizens working together to tackle their problems For example: A group of older residents in secure accommodation who want to get together and set up a residents association to speak up for their collective needs. Improved rural and urban environments which communities are better able to access and enjoy For example: A community centre that has its own garden which it wishes to develop so it can be used by its members and people from the local community. Healthier and more active people and communities For example: A church which runs healthy cooking courses members of the local community can learn how to prepare healthy and nutritious meals.
SLIDE 19 Here are a few examples of the things Awards for All regularly funds. These are just the most common items, and this list of things is by no means all you can ask for. Just to highlight a few points on some of these: Volunteer Expenses: means just that-out of pocket expenses for travel and things bought by volunteers for the benefit of your work. You cannot pay your volunteers with
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benefit of your work. You cannot pay your volunteers with Awards for All money because then they stop being volunteers. Upgrading Equipment: The word upgrade is key here. Awards for All is an enabling grant programme, so it doesn’t fund groups to replace equipment. In some cases however certain equipment may need upgrading because
- f health and safety issues, so things like kitchen
equipment or certain children’s toys. Sessional Workers: are eligible under Awards for All. But, Awards for All will not fund ongoing staff costs. So, we could fund a group to pay a free-lance keep-fit co-ordinator
- nce a week for a short period, but we would not fund a
group to hire a coach full time, or pay their office administrator for example. Finally, it’s worth mentioning Building/refurbishment
- costs. Awards for All can fund groups for building work or
the refurbishment of premises etc, however it can only
SLIDE 20 This list is very important as it shows you what Awards for All will not fund! Retrospective Activities: We won’t fund anything you buy before you hear you have been successful in securing our grant. Existing/Repeat activities: Awards for All will only fund new activities, or significant extensions to existing activities-so don’t apply for anything you’ve done before. A great example of people falling foul of this exclusion is annual trips. Lots of groups go on several outings each year and ask us to fund their next round of trips away. If you regularly go on trips as a group then Awards for All will not fund you to keep going on them, even if they are to different places. Running Costs: Awards for All doesn’t fund running costs- so no utility bills, rent or similar items.
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so no utility bills, rent or similar items. Political/Religious Promotion: Awards for All doesn’t fund the promotion of any political opinion or religious belief. That doesn’t mean we won’t fund Religious organisations, for example we have funded many church groups in the past, providing their projects are for the benefit of their community and not about promoting a particular belief. Building/Refurbishment work costing over £25,000 inc VAT: As I said before, any building or refurbishment work that you apply to Awards for All for must have a total cost of £25,000 or less. Salaries: Awards for All will not fund any contribution to salaried posts. Used Vehicles: Awards for All won’t fund the purchase of any used vehicles, new vehicles are fine.
SLIDE 21 There are 24 questions in the current version of the form that you need to
- complete. They’re split into 6 parts. At the moment lots of applications are
being returned because not all of the questions have been completed. Part 1- first 8 questions and this is purely factual information about your
- rganisation and should be easy to complete.
Part 2 - questions 8 to 14 will require a bit more thought but shouldn’t be too difficult as we’re only asking what it is you want us to fund and how much you want. So once again it’s pretty straightforward information.
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Part 3 – questions 15 to 19 is where you will need to stop and think they’re important questions. Here you need to tell us about the need for your project and how your project will meet that need. It’s important to realise that if the assessing
- fficer thinks that you have not properly identified the need your project
won’t be funded. We want to see that it’s not just that a management committee has decided that they want to carry out a project, there has to be a reason for it and the members/beneficiaries have to want it. Must be a distinction between a want and need. Link need to outcomes – must be a problem in the community. Focus on consultation. If stats/research used ensure relevant and very specific. We then want to know which of our outcomes your programme will meet and how. We score higher for groups who meet more than one of our
- utcomes but don’t go off track. Tendency for groups to try and do too
much so try and have one really strong link to outcome. Remember to tell us the change or difference that your project is going to
- make. Awards for All isn’t about providing funding so that you can
continue to do what you’re already doing. Something new.
SLIDE 22 Ensure application form is fully completed. Common reasons for incomplete apps are landline numbers, home addresses for both contacts, DOB’s and figures from last accounts. Two contacts cannot be the same person, and the Senior contact MUST be a Director or SM Committee member (head teacher for Schools). Must be additional to Statutory services. DO NOT USE TEMPLATE APPLICATIONS ENSURE MC IS INVOLVED IN APP
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ENSURE MC IS INVOLVED IN APP GET SOMEBODY ELSE TO READ THROUGH BEFORE SUBMITTING
SLIDE 23 Once we receive your form, we will check it is complete. If anything is missing we’ll return it to you asking for the missing information. At the moment around 70% of all applications that we receive are incomplete for one reason
- r another. This obviously delays your application.
Once your application is complete we will check your application form to see: That the need for the project is clearly shown – You need to describe what needs existing or potential beneficiaries have that would be satisfied by the delivery of the project. We need to see that your project will benefit your intended community, this means you’ve asked the people who will ultimately benefit from any grant what they would like to see, and that you are not just applying for something that the leaders of your group think is a good idea.
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We want to know exactly who, and how many people will benefit from our grant. We would like to see a wide range
- f beneficiaries involved. – For some groups it will be
appropriate to restrict who can take part, but even then you should show that the project will be open to all within the community of interest and not just some. How you will achieve your outcomes – You need to describe how the project will meet at least one of the BIG
- utcomes. You may think you meet more than one and
that’s fine, but it’s up to the assessing officer to make the final determination. Priority is given to those who haven’t had A4A funding in the past. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get funded if you have had previous awards it’s purely a way of prioritising competing applications. It’s a mechanism that has existed for several years and in that time many groups have had second or third awards.
SLIDE 24 It will take us 30 working days to give you a decision once we’ve received a completed application form. I say completed because that 30 day timeframe wont start until you send us a fully completed form. If it isn’t complete then we will send it back to you and therefore it could take a lot longer! Our decision will either be a CONDTIONAL OFFER or a
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Our decision will either be a CONDTIONAL OFFER or a Reject. If we reject your application we will explain why, and once you have fixed the problem we have highlighted you can apply again. The most common Reject reason is ‘Insufficient Funds’, which means we didn’t have enough money to fund everyone we would want to fund. If your application is rejected because of Insufficient Funds then you can re-apply again as soon as you can, maybe next time you will be lucky. If unsuccessful for another reason must address before re- applying. For those who get a conditional offer, the key word here is CONDITIONAL! The grant isn’t yours yet. 20 days to send us supporting documents. Final decision within 10 working days - Currently the average time for people to return documentation is 42 days and most of it is incomplete. You should really have most of the documentation available before you send the application in.
SLIDE 25 The supporting documentation that you need to send us if you get a CONDITIONAL offer is highlighted on this slide. Remember, we do not ask to see these as part of the initial application process, only if we make you a conditional grant offer. In your application form you will have already confirmed you can send these documents. You need to ensure you have annual accounts for your
- group. This should show the group’s income and
expenditure and any free reserves it holds. You should be able to provide us with your most recent annual accounts. New groups must be able to supply projected income and expenditure for the first 12 months of their operation.
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expenditure for the first 12 months of their operation. We need to see three consecutive pages of original bank statements from all groups, and these must be from the account that you want your grant paid into. The most recent page cannot be more than three months old. We will send original statements back to you. Bank/Building society form – if more than three account signatories copy form and A & B fully completed and
- verified. Complete cheque signatory number.
If your organisation has been running for less than three months we will need all the original statements you have received from your bank or building society (or certified copies of all the pages from your building society passbook that have transactions on them). We will also need an original letter from your bank or building society showing your account details and when the account was opened.
SLIDE 26 Now, just to make sure you have been paying attention, I’ve got a short quiz for
- you. You should all have some coloured cards, when I read out a question, please
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- you. You should all have some coloured cards, when I read out a question, please
hold the card up whose colour you think matches the correct answer.
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SLIDE 49 Need benef issues evidence to support issues such as stats & research (sourced and dated), evaluation of previous project, gap in service and whether project fits into any local, national or regional strategies. Consultation with current and potential users – within the last 2 yrs. Dates and findings to be provided. If not possible then must specify I.e. rape victims/victims of domestic
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If not possible then must specify I.e. rape victims/victims of domestic abuse. Outcomes To show a clear difference to the benefs lives. Ask your self so what? Example: young people have increased access to employment workshops or young people will have increased employability skills through increased access to employment workshops. Short, specific and to the point. Not too wordy. Do not copy programmes
- utcomes. Link to one of programme outcomes
Benef involvement We want to see how the benefs (incl potential) are involved in the shaping design of your project (consultation, user group, open days, management committee and in the day to day running (volunteering and evaluation). Links Give examples of specific activities which will lead to the achievement of
SLIDE 50
Only 34% of our applicants read the guidance & 26% look at website Get somebody else to read application Ensure MC knows about app and is involved. DO NOT USE TEMPLATE APPLICATIONS. Seek help from a helper agency or local CVS.
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Full app feedback: Answer all sub points Ensure TPC not varied more than 25% Evaluation report If awarded: Six months to start project ¼ payments Dedicated Grants Officer Monitoring consists of End of Year report, annual accs, six monthly monitoring call, visits and End of grant report. You can apply to more that one programme at a time as long as they are for
different projects.
SLIDE 51 New online guide to outcomes which replaces ‘Explaining New online guide to outcomes which replaces ‘Explaining the Difference’. New guide is called Getting funding and planning successful projects and is located at www.biglearningzone.org.uk It is a simple step-by-step introduction to the fundamental concepts and principles that you will need to know about if you are going to apply for funding from us. Online resource with more info on need, setting outcomes, planning and measuring Eight fully worked examples Complements BIG’s application forms & guidance Outcome examples are a baseline only and not examples
- f strong outcomes. Please do not copy these or BIG
- utcomes.
Not RC specific.
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SLIDE 52 You can get an application form by calling the Awards for
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You can get an application form by calling the Awards for All application line on 0845 600 20 40. You can also download an application form off the internet, or fill one in
- nline by visiting www.awardsforall.org.uk.
It is often easier for you and our grant staff if online forms are e-mailed to us, so if it is possible for you to do so we would like you to send them this way. Useful websites: www.biglearningzone.org.uk
www.statistics.gov.uk www.ons.gov.uk
SLIDE 53 Fill out evaluation.
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Fill out evaluation. Good luck, any questions? Remember read our key messages!!! Don’t rush application. Look around, make contacts, speak to other groups. Get help.
