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

Lyndon has a new lease of life after years of alcohol abuse

He was bullied terribly at school and lost more jobs than he cares to remember after his alcohol addiction got so bad that he started suffering epileptic seizures.

Today, 45 year old Lyndon James from Llandudno thanks his lucky stars that he’s still alive after being held in a prison of alcoholism for most of his life. It was only when his friend of 20 years died from alcohol abuse this year at the age of 48 that Lyndon finally had a rude awakening and decided to look in the mirror and conquer his alcohol demons once and for all before he suffered the same fate.

Lyndon has now been sober for over four months and feels like he’s been given a new lease of life thanks to the support he received from a Big Lottery Fund awarded project in Conwy. Today, he’s urging more people with substance misuse and mental health problems to seek help from the Conwy Refrain project which is run jointly by Aberconwy Mind and CAIS. Three years ago, the project was awarded over half a million pounds (£596,756) under the Big Lottery Fund’s £15 million Mental Health Matters programme, and aims to promote the rehabilitation and independence of people who fall between the gaps of services, both in Mental Health and in Substance Use.

The project provides a free therapeutic counselling service for individuals every week at either their Aberconwy Mind Centre in Llandudno or the DAWN Centre in Colwyn Bay.

“I come here every week and we sit and talk about my problems. It’s just been wonderful. God knows where I’d be without it really. I honestly think I would be dead. They’re helping me to look for work opportunities and even some voluntary work. I just can’t say enough about this project and how good it is..There should be projects like this in every community.”

Big awards £1.7 million to improve children’s life chances in Wales

Two Welsh projects are sharing in more than £15.2 million awarded by the Big Lottery Fund to ground-breaking projects across the UK which support young children growing up in very difficult circumstances and to help transform their life chances.

Barnardo’s Cymru and the Carmarthenshire Youth and Children’s Association are among the 17 UK projects to have been awarded grants under the first round of BIG’s Improving Futures programme, which will provide up to £26 million for more joined-up and earlier support to families with multiple and complex problems.

BIG’s backing will see families being offered tailored support from local voluntary sector organisations working in partnerships with public services. Each partnership will receive up to £900,000 over three to five years to work with families whose eldest children are aged five to ten years old. Around 8,000 families will benefit from this round of awards.

The programme will see some of the largest charities working together with some of the smallest community organisations and local public services to trial a range of family interventions. Some projects will involve rolling out evidence-based parenting programmes, redesigning services on an area-wide basis or reaching out in new ways to those families who are most marginalised or under the radar.

With their grant of £867,114, Barnardo’s Cymru, working in partnership with Action for Children and Cardiff City Council to support 500 families in Cardiff over three years. The Eleri project (named after a member of the project team’s young daughter who was born just before the application was submitted) will support children, young people and their families with the most complex needs who frequently are at risk of being in the revolving door cycle of provision. The support will empower the families to take control and change their lives, and help turn lives around.

Forces in Mind

BIG was delighted to announce the formal launch of the Big Lottery Fund’s (BIG) £35 million Forces in Mind Trust (FIMT) - a partnership of forces’ charities and mental health organisations that over the next 20 years will bring vital support to thousands of former UK military personnel and their families to help them re-integrate into civilian life.

Our ambitions for the Trust which is being delivered by a partnership led by the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO) are to improve fundamentally the way in which services are developed and delivered in support of veterans and their families. The Trust will deliver improved partnership working between service, ex-service and other relevant organisations to provide more integrated, flexible support. This is an approach which the veterans’ sector wholly supports.

The Trust will focus on addressing the mental health issues that former forces personnel can experience when returning to civilian life,which at their extreme can include a range of issues such as post traumatic stress disorder, social exclusion, family trauma, suicide, and substance misuse.

Looking for funding?

Find out more about the current funding programmes in Wales

Get details of funding programmes from all National Lottery distributors

What has been funded in my area?

Search for projects that have been funded by BIG in your area or for funding by all National Lottery distributors