About the West Midlands

The West Midlands regional office covers the following areas:

The Big Lottery Fund makes a difference to us all by investing in people and places across the United Kingdom. Here in the West Midlands, almost £1.6 billion of Lottery funding has been invested in projects since 1995.

The West Midlands region has a population of approximately 5.26 million and is dominated by the cities of Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent and the four Black Country boroughs (Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Walsall). Rural areas make up three quarters of the region. There are significant levels of deprivation in many inner-city areas alongside relative affluence in some urban and rural areas. More than one in ten people have a BME heritage, making the West Midlands the second most diverse region in England.

The West Midlands Regional team work with local and regional partners, funding advice workers and potential applicants by offering advice and support both before and after funding is awarded. This is done through a variety of ways:

• holding BIG Briefing events for funding advice workers throughout the region, so they can be updated on the latest funding opportunities and information from BIG and our partners

• sending out a monthly e-bulletin to over 1,500 subscribers. This contains up-to-date information and links to the regional web page on the BIG website. It includes news items, information about the latest awarded grants, funding updates, and upcoming regional events
• articles for community magazines and press releases across the West Midlands to keep local communities up to date with funding available from BIG and where money is spent in their area

• writing to all newly funded groups in the West Midlands and offer them advice on how to publicise the success of their grant. We do this by offering communications advice and resources, such as large cheques and banners

• launch of a regional helper agency web site. This provides funding advisers with the latest information on grant statistics and toolkits

• context papers for a number of our committees who award funding to inform decision makers about grants in the region

• monitor where grants are awarded in the West Midlands, and work to increase the number of applications where necessary.  We do this in a number of ways such as targeting communications campaigns or working with local stakeholders in the area on a one-to-one basis.