• Awards for All...  Well almost!
• New team members in London
• London Health Commission Awards 2008
• London office contact details

People's Millions 2008

The fourth year of The People’s Millions has been launched and once again we’re working in partnership with ITV to deliver the programme.

This year we want to fund projects that transform the local environment or provide opportunities or facilities to allow people to take part and enjoy their local area.

We will be awarding five grants in London – four winners plus one bonus runner up award.

This year the maximum grant will be £50,000 plus VAT.

Last year we had 5 fantastic winners in London including a sensory garden at the Streatham Darby and Joan Club; a new play area for the Juniper Crescent housing estate in Camden and an innovative computer system at Centrepoint Soho to enable homeless users to develop their computer skills for future job searches.

You can watch film clips of some of our previous winners and how they featured on ITV regional news programmes.

Application packs can be downloaded from the website or by calling the BIG Advice line on 0845 4 10 20 30.

The closing date for applications is 15 May.

myplace programme

On 4 April Big Lottery Fund launched a brand new programme on behalf of Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

The aim of myplace is to deliver world-class youth facilities driven by the active participation of young people and their view and needs.

The programme will award grants of up to £5million, and with funding of £190 million over three years across England there will be plenty of opportunity for London to bid for some of the pot.

Application and guidance materials for the first funding round will be available on the myplace section of our website from 6 May 2008. The deadline for fast track applications is 29 July 2008 and the deadline for the standard route is 30 September 2008.

Camden Town update

A run down community centre on a Camden Town estate has been given a new lease of life with news that the BIG Lottery Fund is financing its redevelopment with a £495,000 grant.

Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre’s ‘Samuel Lithgow Capital Project’ will provide a refurbished and extended community facility for all those living on the Regent’s Park Estate, in North London.

The close-knit local community has secured a slice of the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Buildings programme, which on 31 March made 10 awards worth £2,659,018 for bricks and mortar investments in village halls and community centres across England.

The Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre, named after a local Christian philanthropist, was opened in 1969 as a purpose-built youth centre, although the wider community also makes use of the building on a regular basis as no other facilities exist locally.

After 39 years of service, it has become dilapidated and requires extensive refurbishment to accommodate the increasing needs of local people. Two modern extensions to the building are planned to remedy this.

Paulo Pires, Centre Manager at the Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre, said: “We’re ecstatic to receive this grant from the Big Lottery Fund. It will allow us to finally refurbish and expand the community centre – making our dreams become a reality.  New community-based services will be delivered from the modernised Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre that will further benefit local children, parents, young people and the wider community for years to come.”

The extended and refurbished building will provide a number of modern amenities for locals. These include a new sports hall, meeting room, office spaces and community café. The introduction of an ICT suite, games room, large gym area, and music sound studio will give young people the opportunity to showcase their creative sides in safe and supportive surroundings.

Awards for All...  Well almost!

For nearly 10 years, Awards for All has been the most popular route for voluntary and community groups to access lottery funding in London.

Although many groups are successful in applying for Awards for All funding, high demand means that sometimes groups don’t get funded first time round. The good news is that, most of the time, groups can apply again but there are also some common mistakes which are made leading to unsuccessful applications.

We’ve put together a list of these to help you avoid the same problems!  To give yourself a better chance of being funded, check that you’re not making any of these mistakes – if you are, we explain what you need to do to put things right:

Referees

In addition to the common reject reasons shown above, the section regarding referees can also cause problems for groups. To avoid this groups should ensure that:

• If the project involves children under 16, the referee must be someone on the approved list of professions (see guidance notes) and shouldn’t be retired
• In all cases, referees must have known the project for more than 12 months
• Referees must be independent and not stand to gain any primary or secondary benefits from the grant being awarded
• Referees should not be related to anyone within the applicant group
• Referees should be contactable within the assessment period.

Awards for All continues to be a popular programme and demand is high – make sure your group or groups you advise know about these common pitfalls before they apply!

New team members in London

We have recently recruited 2 new team members to the London team at Big and so we thought we would take this opportunity to introduce them.

Laura Smith has joined the London team Regional Policy and Partnership Officer.  She transferred from our Scotland office, where she previously worked as an information and events officer for 2 years.

Our newest team member is Katie Timms who has just joined this month as Regional Communications Officer.  Katie joins us from Music in Hospitals, where she worked as a fundraising manager.

Our complete team in London is made up of:

• Debbie Pippard (Head of Region). Responsible for overall management and leadership of the team.  Regional lead for BASIS programme.
• Russell Darbon (Regional Policy and Partnership Manager).  Regional lead for Community Assets, Community Buildings, Community Libraries and our environment programmes.
• Viv Whittingham (Regional Policy and Partnership Manager).  Regional lead for Advice Plus, Children’s Play, myplace, Research, Young People’s Fund and Well-being programmes as well as the Olympics.
• Rosalie Woods (Regional Policy and Partnership Officer). Regional lead for the Family Learning and People’s Millions programmes.
• Laura Smith (Regional Policy and Partnership Officer) Regional lead for Awards for All and Reaching Communities programmes.
• Vicky Carter (Regional Communications Manager).  Lead responsibility for events and communications, for liaison with MPs, Assembly Members and local councillors and for marketing support to grant-holders.
• Katie Timms (Regional Communications Officer).  Lead responsibility for e-bulletins and newsletters, the regional web page, case studies, supports events and communications.
• Anna Johnson (Administration Assistant).  Provides administrative support to the team.

In London the team is responsible for:

• Gathering policy and contextual information to assist BIG’s committees in making decisions about funding applications
• Links with external organisations and key individuals in the region
• Outreach to ensure potential applicants are aware of our grant programmes and funding policies
• Communicating with stakeholders (including MPs) and raising the profile of Lottery funding
• Providing post award communications and PR support to grant recipients
• Organising events and participating in networks to share best practice and disseminate research and evaluation
• Monitoring of application success rates and targeted work to try to ensure distribution of awards reflects needs in the region

London Health Commission Awards 2008

The London Health Commission (LHC) has launched an awards programme to recognise and reward community and voluntary group achievements in health and well-being.  The awards, focused on community action for health and well-being, will celebrate the contribution made by groups working on a wide range of projects across the capital in the areas of cohesive communities, mental well-being, partnerships with local government, partnership achievements with business sector and community campaigning and advocacy.

The projects must have been up and running for at least a year and groups must have an annual turnover of less than £100,000.  Winning entries will receive £1000 as well as additional support such as training.  

Update:  The deadline for the awards has been extended and groups now have until 14 May 2008 to apply.

For more information and to download an application form, please visit the London Heath Commission website.

London office contact details

For funding information or general enquiries call the BIG advice line on 0845 4 10 20 30 or email general.enquiries@biglotteryfund.org.uk.

For information about the work of the London team, please contact:

The London regional office
5th Floor
1 Plough Place
London
EC4A 1DE

Telephone: 020 7842 4000
Textphone: 0845 039 0204
Fax: 020 7842 4010