Big Lottery Fund

Funding programmes open to your constituents

You can use our Funding Finder to search for funding programmes that are available for your constituents, while our grants search will allow you to find projects that have been funded in your constituency.

See a list of funding programmes open to your constituents

BIG in the North West

The regional team is the public face of BIG in the North West.  Our work includes stakeholder engagement, funding advice, communications, gathering regional information to support grant making and new programme development.

BIG has invested over £28 million in the North West Region since April 2011, making 982 awards.

We are particularly proud that since April 2011 we have supported 43 local veterans of World War II to travel to the places in which they saw action over 60 years ago totalling over £60,000.

BIG in the region

The North West team has been busy over the past year with outreach work promoting the funding available through our open programmes – Awards for All and Reaching Communities.

Throughout the region we have :

• Attended 150 events, giving presentations and advice to support applicants
• Met with over 100 stakeholders to discuss ways in which we can work together
• Visited a range of projects and produced 24 case studies, showcasing the difference lottery funding makes

As always we let all our MPs know when money is invested into projects in their constituency and offer accompanied visits to projects, also, in areas where we have lower application rates we can work with the local MP to promote the funding opportunities available to groups in the area. Contact us if you would like further details on how we can help you. We always encourage groups themselves to invite their local MP to project openings and celebrations.

B.A.S.I.C success story

25 years ago Derek Gaskell’s wife Dorothy had life saving brain surgery. When she came home she found she was unable to do anything for herself. Once an active lady, she could not walk or talk and as a consequence suffered deep depression. After many years she made a good recovery.  The unexpected horror of this experience inspired Derek to set up Salford based Brain and Spinal Injury Centre Limited (B.A.S.I.C.) to help others who have suffered brain injuries.

Retired from the NHS after 25 years, trained neuro-physiotherapist Sylvia Moss now works at the centre.  Sylvia remembers sitting at home and being in floods of tears when she retired because she was no longer helping people.  She knew about B.A.S.I.C. as she’d been a volunteer at the centre.  “When I heard they had secured BIG funding and I was able to join B.A.S.I.C on a more permanent basis, I was elated.  I felt like one door had closed but another had opened for me”

“Many of the clients enjoy coming to the gym, they feel safe and are not self conscious, the majority of the clients wouldn’t go to a normal gym that was open to the general public, they fear people would stare at them or that they couldn’t communicate”

Director Wendy Edge said "We are really delighted at being awarded this Lottery grant. It means that hundreds of people recovering from a stroke or brain injury will be able to take part in power assisted exercise programmes at our specialist gym”

“BIG has meant a great deal to us. They have been there from our early days, supporting our work over the last 10 yrs. They’ve helped us refurbish our Centre, develop our information library, establish our brain injury vocational service and fund specialist exercise for those recovering from brain injuries. Without help from BIG it would have taken us a lot longer to develop these services, for that we are extremely grateful”.

How can we help you?

We can arrange constituency tours of projects we have funded and we encourage groups to invite their local MP to project openings. We can provide case studies from constituencies and leaflets or information for surgeries and your website. Where possible, we can organise or attend funding events in local areas and provide constituents with funding information. We will also send you a monthly mail out showing projects funded in your constituency.

Further information

For more information about the work we do in the North West Region or details of events we are attending contact our office on 0161 261 4600.

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