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Funders' Forum Conference

The second annual conference of the Scotland Funders’ Forum (SFF) recently took place in Glasgow. After a year of hard work, designed to make life easier for funders and applicants alike, a group of private and public funders converged on The Barony to reflect and shape the future work of the Forum.

This was a chance to report back to stakeholders on its work in 2007 which included tackling issues around the private sector, long term funding, regulation, equalities, public scrutiny, monitoring and evaluation.

The conference was chaired by one of Scotland’s most respected journalists, Ruth Wishart while the keynote speakers were John Bird MBE, the founder of the Big Issue; Steven Marwick, Director of Evaluation Support Scotland, Lucy Heady of New Philanthropy Capitol and Dharmendra Kanani, Chair of the SFF and Director of BIG in Scotland.

The enigmatic John Bird inspired the audience with his story of founding, running and growing the Big Issue, the biggest social enterprise in the world. After an engaing talk, John was joined by a panel of other successful social entrepreneurs who took questions from the audience.

One of the main focuses for the day was on monitoring and evaluation. Findings from the round table discussions told the SFF that’s its top priority for 2008 should be more investment from funders in evaluation support and more training on monitoring for both funders and grant holders.

Throughout the day people were asked a series of questions using keypad voting. This showed that the biggest issues in funding in Scotland at the moment are the local government concordat and knowing what funding is available and how to get it.

As well as shaping the work plan for the SFF, the day’s activities will also enable the new kid on the block, the Funders’ Forum Frontline to develop its priorities for the next year. This forum, set up in 2007, mirrors the SFF but is made up of officers working at the coalface of funding.

Turning the Tables

During 2007 the Scotland Funders’ Forum commissioned New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) to pilot a more intelligent way for charities to streamline the monitoring reports they send to funders. This was part of the SFF’s commitment to looking at ways of reducing the burden of monitoring and reporting currently placed on charities. The Turning Tables report, launched at the conference by Lucy Heady of NPC, was an attempt to balance funders’ need for information with charities’ desire to focus on delivery.

It concludes that neither charities nor funders are getting the best value from the information or the time spent collating it. While the economic burden of monitoring and reporting is not paralysing it does not represent the best use of the resources either for funders, charities or – ultimately their beneficiaries.

The report, however, does provide hope and gives charities and funders an action plan to help, including talking to each other about whether monitoring reports are delivering what’s needed. There is also a good recommendation in the NPC report which is to ask Audit Scotland to issue clear guidance on what financial information is legally required.

Promoting Partnerships

At BIG we welcome applications from partnerships as they can often be effective in meeting a need or tackling a wider problem. They can help enable organisations to pursue a common vision and work together to achieve more than they could by working on their own.  

Partnerships can range from informal information sharing and consultation networks to more formal partnerships with their own partnership agreements. Their structure often depends on the amount of control that the partners want to have over joint work. This, in turn, depends on the purpose of that partnership, the type of work to be carried out and the level of risk involved for each organisation.

Partnership working may involve two or more organisations from the public, private or voluntary sector. It may be a local partnership, focusing on a small area such as a neighbourhood, it could cover a larger area such as a town or city or have a regional or even national focus.

A “lead organisation” should submit the application to us on behalf of the partnership. This should be the organisation that will co-ordinate, manage and deliver the project. The lead organisation must meet our eligibility requirements for the programme they are applying to, although organisations that are not eligible can usually be involved in the partnership. Any exceptions or restrictions on this will be explained in our programme guidance notes.

One of our standard terms and conditions of a grant is that the organisation we enter into a grant agreement with cannot subcontract any of the project without our prior agreement in writing. So, if we award a grant before the project can start we must approve a partnership between the lead organisation and the other partners involved in the project.

Since a wide range of partnership agreements exist and every project will be different, we advise that applicants should seek legal advice to decide on the best agreement for their project.

For more information call our enquiries line on 0870 240 2391 or visit our website.

People's Millions 2008

ITV’s News at Ten co-anchor Julie Etchingham joined the Big Lottery Fund to call for groups across Scotland and the UK to go for gold with our People’s Millions contest which is now open for applications.

Five awards of up to £50,000 will be up for grabs in each of ITV’s 18 regions – a total of 90 awards across the UK and a potential quarter of a million pounds for each region for projects that improve and enrich communities.

Organisations across the regions have until 15 May to enter, and our final project shortlist will be announced on 29 October. The People’s Millions contest will be televised on ITV from 24-28 November and the public in each region will vote for the winners.

Since the People’s Millions contest began four years ago, a total of £13.6m has been awarded to 229 community projects and more than 1.1 million people across the UK have taken the opportunity to vote for the project they want to receive Lottery good cause funding.

Launching the contest in a glamorous gold dress designed by Stewart Parvin, Julie Etchingham, said: "People's Millions is a wonderful project because it gives money to groups that are making a real difference to their communities - and, what's more, it's the viewers in those communities who decide which projects are going to benefit. We've got close to £5 million to give away across the UK, so if you're involved with a project that really transforms your local environment or makes your community a better place to live then we want to hear from you – and fast!”

Our team of funding advisors will be holding workshops at the following locations to help, support and encourage local groups apply to the People’s Millions contest.

Application packs for People’s Millions are available by calling the hotline: 08450 10 11 12 or by visiting here.

Latest investment

At the March committee seven projects were awarded funding from Investing in Communities through our Growing Community Assets and Dynamic Inclusive Communities investment areas. That means since May 2006 Big Lottery Fund has just under £64 million worth of investment has led to 199 Scottish groups embarking on new projects.

When we add this Investing in Communities total to our Young People’s Fund, Investing in Ideas and Awards for All programmes, we have committed just under £120 million from the funding available until 2009. And all of our investment areas have proved popular, and our average grant size has been just over £320,000.

The Big Lottery Fund has been delighted to support green projects across the board.

Two Scottish communities are set to take their first steps into independent green energy creation thanks to IiC investment. Grants worth £1.1 million were awarded to the Ore Valley Housing Association (OVHA) and North Harris Trust (NHT) at the March committee. This funding will allow both groups to focusing on projects which harnessing renewable energy the income from which will in turn will be invested into new assets in each community.

In central Fife the OVHA were awarded a technical assistance grant of £200,000. This funding will allow the OVHA to fund a full technical breakdown and feasibility plan for a proposed medium scale wind farm near Cardenden, Fife. The funding will also go towards ensuring a full community consultation about harnessing wind energy in this way.

And the NHT received £900,000 to support the purchase of a community wind farm. This marks a major step forward in the Trust’s plans to site a wind farm on the island. Their renewable energy project will result in a 1.8MW community owned wind development on North Harris, generating income averaging £180,000 each year over 12 years.

The fund has also been supporting the greenfingered networks investing £458,434 into the Growing Communities in Scotland partnership, which brings together the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG), the Scottish Therapeutic Gardening Network (Trellis) and the Allotments Regeneration Initiative (ARI).

The three partners will be able to work together to help projects develop new ideas, knowledge and skills so they can offer more consistent services. New network meetings, a web forum, newsletters and exchange visit bursaries will mean that projects can become better connected with each other and with local community groups and related organisations.

SURF's up

The Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF) is the independent regeneration and inclusion network for Scotland and their work is key to helping empower local people and groups to think about regeneration in their areas. This complements our commitment to supporting community regeneration through Growing Community Assets.

GCA supports both rural and urban communities obtain and develop assets that provide and long term community impact. It is important that assets are sustainable – financially, environmentally and economically - and will have a long term economic and social impact for the community. Community ownership and control of the asset is vital to achieving the changes we want to make, by getting people involved in decision making and community enterprise.

We want to support community-led regeneration, providing quality services and amenities that reflect the needs of the community. We hope that this will mean more people will use and enjoy those assets and that they will help create more community income and employment.

SURF is holding an Open Forum on Friday 2 May in Glasgow. This will be an opportunity to give some constructive thought to enduring themes in regeneration policy and practice that have emerged during the recent SURF Open Forum programme. In doing so, SURF will seek delegates’ views on appropriate future action and developments around these themes.

Places at the Forum are free and a full programme and details of how to book are available here.

BIG help online

With deadlines for outline proposals to Investing in Communities fast approaching, it's important that applicants have access to help when they need it. As well as having a dedicated information and enquries line available between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, we also have an applicant help area on the Scotland website.

This is full of useful information, based on our experience over the past two years and can give you an insight into what to consider when applying to IiC. We're adding to the help area all the time so make sure you keep checking out what's new.

You'll find factsheets on topics such as full cost recovery, business planning, completing your outline proposal form and outcomes. It's also where you'll find our workshop presentations giving practical information on Filling out our Application Form and How to Make a Good Application.

If you're thinking of applying to Investing in Communities then why not consult the help area.

But remember - if you can't find the answer you're looking for - you can always call one of our funding advisors on 0870 240 2391.

Do one thing

Breathing Places is a UK wide small grants programme, which provided grants up to £10,000, that was developed in partnership with the BBC to complement its Breathing Places campaign. The campaign aims to inspire communities to get involved in transforming their local environment and creating and caring for local green spaces that are good for wildlife and for people.

Although the grants programme is now closed, our partners at BBC Scotland are encouraging groups who have created a Breathing Place to tell their local community all about it and run a Do One Thing Open Day. Groups can apply for a Do One Thing Open Day event kit which includes a Media Kit to help get your story noticed as well as a number of resources and activities to enhance your event.

This is a great chance for your community to take part in some family-orientated activities. The event can be a full day, a few hours or anything in between.

By running a Do One Thing event, you will help give the community a sense of involvement and ownership over the Breathing Place, increasing its chances of survival for years to come.

The best time to run your event will be September 2008 and groups are encouraged to register on the Breathing Places website.Your event could be the key to encourging others to do one thing, which in turn will be good for nature and the environment.

The BBC have produced a limited number of packs, available from May 2008, and you can contact Catherine Garvie, the local Learning Project Manager, on 07740818401 or via email for further information.