About the North East
The North East is one of the smallest of the English regions in both area and population. The region consists of 4 sub-regions: Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, County Durham, and the Tees Valley. The North East is an area of great health need, and experiences the highest levels of deprivation of all the England regions. We have lower than average life expectancy figures, and unemployment rates are above the national average.
It is against this background that our North East policy team provides regional intelligence for programme committees. In this way, we help keep grants officers and decision makers informed about our region. This ensure that we fund projects that complement existing plans and initiatives, in the areas that are most in need.
We have been involved in the development and delivery of numerous Lottery funding programmes, bringing together years of grant making, policy development, and communications experience.
During the financial year 2007- 2008 BIG awarded:
- more than £36 million to 752 projects in the NE – or over £14 for every person living in the region
- 642 grants on the Awards for All programme
- 36 grants totaling over £7.8 million on our high-profile Reaching Communities programme.
The team regularly attends funding fairs and gives presentations and advice based around our programmes. We run workshops for funding advice workers throughout the region, so that they are equipped to advise groups on our funding programmes. We also attend events put on by other organisations and work with the community and voluntary sector to raise awareness of our funding.
We support the groups we have funded by:
- offering publicity guidance, support and advice
- offering merchandise and promotional materials
- attending launch events
- visiting them to produce promotional case studies.
If you would be interested in the above please contact the Regional Team on 0191 376 1600.