Big Lottery Fund

Regional introduction

Welcome to the latest update from the Big Lottery Fund in the East of England

This update includes information on Building Capabilities, Communities Living Sustainably, Building Research Establishment (BRE) and much more. The ‘External News’ slot has regional items which we hope you will find useful and informative.

I would like to take this opportunity to send season’s greetings and to wish you all a happy New Year from everyone at the East of England regional office. It has been another interesting year in which we have been lucky enough to meet with lots of people across the region and see how they are making Lottery money work hard to help their communities.

Did you know that a whopping £27 billion has now been raised for the good causes by the National Lottery since its introduction in 1995? Why not find out more about how your Lottery money is spent and visit www.lotteryfunding.org.uk

Best wishes,

Sara Betsworth, Head of Region – East of England

Building Capabilities

BIG is launching a nationwide discussion asking voluntary sector and social enterprise managers working in both frontline and infrastructure support and development organisations to tell us how they think we should best use our funding to develop support to VCS organisations and social enterprises.

The Big Lottery fund has invested spent more than £200 million on capacity building for VCS organisations and social enterprises over the last ten years; our nationwide discussion is intended to stimulate debate and thinking to shape, influence and inform our future thinking and investment.

To begin to gather ideas and responses, we have posted an online survey. We will also be organising discussion events in 2012. A paper setting out the principles behind our future investment plans and an on-line survey is available on our website at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/buildingcapabilities

The deadline for responding to this discussion paper is 15 March 2012. We will then publish a revised paper which responds to and incorporates your comments. We look forward to having this discussion with you in the New Year.

£10 million to kick start sustainable living across England

Could you help us learn how communities in England can live in a more sustainable way?

If the answer is yes, your community could be one of 10 to receive up to £1million to work across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors to build a sustainable and resilient community that can develop inspirational ideas and share their learning with other communities across England.

We are particularly keen to see vulnerable people benefitting by making greener choices that will help them reduce their costs and improve their quality of life.

Our offer

We will invest in up to 10 communities by providing:

• Access to expert support and advice to help each community develop their skills, knowledge and abilities and build on best practice within and between communities
• Up to £10,000 to develop a project delivery plan that details the environmental, economic and social challenges affecting the community and how they can be addressed
• Grants of between £500,000 and £1 million for up to five years. This funding will provide an opportunity for communities to work together to access further resources and support so that their communities are sustainable and resilient long after our funding ends.

Want to know more . . . please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk or contact the Big Advice Line on 0845 4 10 20 30. Please note the closing date for the expression of interest stage is Tuesday 31 January 2012.

Building Research Establishment (BRE) announces another round of CSEP Funding

The Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP)is an open grants programme delivered by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) as an award partner of the BIG Lottery Fund. BRE carries out research, consultancy, training and testing to help create better buildings and communities.

CSEP hasalready awarded£8.5 million to community-based organisations for the installation of microgeneration technologies, such as solar panels or biomass boilers and energy efficiency measures including loft and cavity wall insulation. It has also provided £1 million in project development grants helping organisations decide if they could benefit from amicrogeneration and energy efficiency installation.

Due to the success of the previous 11 rounds CSEP has opened for one more capital funding round. Please note that applications will be accepted for heat generating technologies and energy efficiency measures only and the deadline for the receipt of completed applications will be 5pm on Friday 29th February 2012.

More information is available on the website: www.communitysustainable.org.uk alternatively please call the Changing Spaces helpline on 08453 671671 or email info@communitysustainable.org.uk

Have BIG questions?

You have probably seen our new-look website, but have you noticed our online help and advice section on the right hand side of the homepage?

If you are thinking of applying for funding you should take a look at the frequently asked questions as they may help to answer some of your queries. If you want to know if your project is eligible for funding or have more general programme questions, you can use our live web chat. The live web chat is run by a team of online advisors and is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. Find out more

Village SOS

Village SOS - A free landmark event to help rural communities save vital services and reverse the trend of rural decline.

Monday 27 February - Burlington House Hotel, Birmingham

The BIG’s Village SOS national conference will draw on the widest range of experts from across the rural and social enterprise sectors to give communities the support they need to rejuvenate their villages by setting up community enterprises – from shops and pubs to local food and transport projects.

UK Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, Peter Ainsworth, will be joined on the day by leaders of the sector, including Plunkett Foundation’s Chief Executive Peter Couchman, Co-operatives UK’s Chair, David Button, Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE)’s Chief Executive Sylvia Brown and Locality’s Chief Executive, Steve Wyler, all of whom are partners on the Big Lottery Fund’s Village SOS programme which provides the most comprehensive support ever available to communities setting up community enterprises across the UK.

The UK’s community enterprise pioneers will also be present to inspire delegates to start up their own enterprises, like Fordhall Farm, the country’s first ever farm to be owned by its community, and Cybermoor, a revolutionary broadband community enterprise that has transformed broadband services for the most remote parish in England. They will be joined by specialists across the spectrum, from business and funding experts to planning and marketing professionals.

This free-to-attend event is the essential conference for anyone with an interest in rural communities and community enterprise. It will feature specialist workshops on topics like business planning and accessing finance, debates on issues facing rural communities and how they can be overcome, and the chance to have your say on what you need to rejuvenate your village.

Find out more

External news

Insider Access

Please find below your link to the 5th issue of Insider Access, a new free digital magazine, which has been designed, edited and written by offenders in prison and ex-offenders in the community. The aim of Insider Access is to develop employability skills and support resettlement of offenders, in order to reduce re-offending.Through the magazine, they hope to highlight the positive skills of offenders and work undertaken, both in prison and in the community. You can find the 5th issue of Insider Access on the following link http://www.insider-access.org/magazines/issue5/issue5/index.html or via www.insider-access.org

The Glass-House Community Let Design

The Glass-House is a national charity working to help people make better buildings, spaces, homes and neighbourhoods. They provide independent advice, training and hands-on support to communities and regeneration professionals working together to bring positive and lasting change in your areas. To find out more please visit http://www.theglasshouse.org.uk/

Healthy Ambitions Suffolk - Healthy Heart Small Grants Programme

Grants of up to £500 are now available for community and voluntary groups, including social enterprise organisations to carry out projects that would raise awareness about heart health. Projects could be about healthy diet, getting people up and moving through exercise, walking, swimming, dance etc. Small pieces of equipment may be supported such as a defibrillator or other essential equipment that could help people in life threatening situations.

If you wish to discuss your ideas, receive help withcompleting the formor just talk about how your project meets the criteria, pleasecall Sue Wright on 01473 734127.

The application form and guidelines are available at www.suffolkfoundation.org.uk

Please be sure to send in your completed application form to us, together with necessary paperwork by Monday 5 March 2012.

Big Lunch – Register now!

Find out more about Big Lunch, see what has been funded in the East of England in the past in the Big Lunch map If you would like to join in and plan a Big Lunch for 2012 please visit www.thebiglunch-2012 for more information!