Big Lottery Fund: Big multi-million prime basis for stronger third sector

For Immediate Release: Thursday 17th January 2008

BIG MULTI-MILLIONS PRIME BASIS
FOR STRONGER THIRD SECTOR

The Big Lottery Fund is priming stronger support networks for carers and people with disabilities with the award today of £41.5 million to 84 projects across England.

Today’s awards mean just over 200 projects aiming to increase the effectiveness of the Third Sector have benefited from lottery good cause funding from BIG’s BASIS programme. These new grants complete the Fund’s roll out of close to £100 million from the first phase of the programme.

Sanjay Dighe, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund England Committee, said: “These awards bring funding from the first phase of the BASIS programme to a close, having provided close to £100 million to strengthen the Third Sector across England. Whether working at a country, regional or district level each of the projects we’ve funded will play a vital role in helping voluntary and community groups achieve their goals.”

A second round of BASIS will open for applications in Spring 2008. A consultation about what BIG proposed to fund in the second funding round two took place in Autumn 2007 and the findings will be incorporated into the programme.

The largest of today’s awards sees a grant of £4,245,382 awarded to Scope to fund its three-year Disability LIB (Listen, Include, Build) project. The project will establish the UK's first disability-led consortium that will advise on the critical and varied needs of disabled people's organisations (DPOs) across England and provide the necessary infrastructure support.
Through this project, DPOs will have access to action-learning groups, training workshops, seminars and practical toolkits. Direct support will be provided in management, finance, partnership brokerage and shared services.

Andy Rickell, Chair of Disability LIB and an Executive Director at Scope, said: “We are delighted to have secured this funding and are grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for their generous grant. Many disabled people’s organisations are in crisis, largely because their needs are not being met by the mainstream voluntary sector. Disability LIB - which is led and controlled by disabled people – is aimed at turning around the fortunes of the sector and helping create a new generation of DPOs that will deliver high quality services and more effective campaigning and lobbying.

“Strengthening the role of DPOs will have a positive impact on the lives of disabled people across England and enable them to have the same rights and opportunities that many non-disabled people take for granted.”

To provide information, advice, and support services to carers, a grant of £1,003,027 has been awarded to The Princess Royal Trust For Carers. The Building Sustainable Carers Support Services Across Southern England project will provide training, support, advice, and greatly increased networking opportunities to carer centres in the Midlands, South West, and South East.

Jane Burt, The Princess Royal Trust For Carers Assistant Director Operations (South), said: “The BASIS grant will enable us to develop carers’ support in the South East, South West and Midlands regions over the next 5 years – resulting in real growth in services for carers. The Trust will provide advice, support and training and bring organisations together so that they can influence the planning and development of services in the future.

“With carers high on the Government agenda and beginning to gain recognition as vital partners in the future delivery of successful health and social care, this grant could not come at a better time for the Trust, for local carers’ support organisations and for carers.”

A four-year grant of £894,699 has been awarded to Off the Streets and Into Work (OSW), to fund its Ethical Enterprise and Employment (3xE) Network. The project will develop an England-wide regional network to provide infrastructure support to organisations working in the homeless sector.
Linda Butcher, OSW Chief Executive, said: “OSW is delighted to be awarded a BASIS grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The grant will enable us to establish an Ethical Enterprise and Employment (3xE) Network, bringing together organisations using social enterprise and/or supported employment models and organisations working with unemployed people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

“The Network aims to improve working practice, develop and share resources and increase the sustainability of beneficiary organisations by improving their business skills and their access to public and corporate funding.

“The 3xE Network will operate in three English regions in the first year (London, South West and East Midlands), expanding over years two and three to represent all nine English regions by year four. It will target regional infrastructure bodies and local/regional employment training and homelessness organisations.”

The BASIS programme was devised following extensive public consultation and discussions with the voluntary and community sector. The programme aims to develop the provision of expert, consistent and sustainable services across the range of voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as established charities and voluntary groups.


The other BASIS awards announced today are:

Organisation Project Name Amount Awarded
Watford Council For Voluntary Service Watford ‘Fit for Purpose’ Voluntary Sector Development Project £227,190
Bury St Edmunds Volunteer Centre Limited One Voice Suffolk Local Infrastructure Partnership £463,308
Chelmsford Council For Voluntary Service Access to fund-raising, sustainability and development £236,485
Waveney Community Forum cvs Limited Waveney Community Forum, Community Development Project £252,829
Keystone Development Trust Thetford Area Voluntary Organisations (TAVO) Support Project £113,645
Minority Ethnic Network Eastern Region BME Infrastructure and Outreach, East of England (BIO) £473,430
Voluntary Action Epping Forest Epping Forest and Harlow Advice and Information Resource Project (FAIR) £469,007
Suffolk ACRE Ltd Accumulator, cumulative knowledge, cumulative benefit £450,853
Young Lives VCS – Every Child Matters – Infrastructure Support £475,164
Hunts Forum Of Voluntary Organisations Learning About Managing and Funding (Training for Voluntary Groups) £23,900
Derbyshire Rural Community Council A Voice for the Voluntary Sector in Derbyshire £262,162
Nottingham Hostels Liaison Group Capacity Building £273,684
Voluntary Action East Lindsey East Lindsey ChangeUp Infrastructure Development £342,800
Local Infrastructure Organisations Northamptonshire Engaging Northants VCS £396,984
Development Trusts Association Cultivating Enterprise £1,054,455
Partnership Council Base Camp £197,160
Nottingham Council for Voluntary Service NCVS Change Management Service – Empowering, Enabling and Supporting £499,050
Leicester Lesbian, Gay And Bisexual Centre Capacity Building Sexual Orientation £373,342
Oasis Charitable Trust Faithworks Regional Networks £978,713
The City Centre for Charity Effectiveness Trust Ltd. Non Profit e-Learning Network (Npe-LN) £2,120,298
Action for Market Towns The Sustaining Market Towns Programme £963,158
Birmingham Voluntary Services Council Collaboration, Empowerment, and Influence: A Third Sector Observatory £438,193
Community Links Bromley Bromley Assistance, Signposting and Information Service (BASIS) £322,237
Ealing Community and Voluntary Service CANBE (Communities and Neighbourhoods- Building Effectiveness) £293,310
The Forum @ Greenwich A new CVS for the Borough of Greenwich £451,934
Alcohol Concern Supporting Alcohol Services to Work with Families £424,847
Voluntary Action Camden Better governance through workforce development £421,732
Race On The Agenda Winning the race: putting race on the agenda £483,824
Merton Unity Network A Development, Research and Information Project (DRIP) £375,976
London Advice Services Alliance Company Limited London Region ICT Infrastructure Project £324250
Lambeth Voluntary Action Council Lambeth Volunteer Centre £499,972
CVS Hounslow CVS Hounslow (Council for Voluntary Services, Hounslow) £364,399
Community and Voluntary Organisations Sedgefield CAVOS Voluntary Sector Support and Development Programme £438,983
Voluntary Organisations Network North-East Circuit Riders North East (CRNE) £119,835
Sunderland Volunteer Bureau Volunteer Centre Sunderland – Area Development Workers £499,414
Sunderland Centre for Voluntary Service Supporting the Development of the Sector £488,080
Ellesmere Port & Neston Association of Voluntary & Community Organisations Moving Forward £286,537
Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation Representing the Voluntary Sector of Greater Manchester £464,818
Wirral Council for Voluntary Service Voluntary and Community Sector Development in Wirral £499,998
Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service CVS Capacity Building Project £482,179
Voluntary and Community Action Trafford VCAT Development Team £378,256
Manchester Environmental Resource Centre Initiative Ltd Sustaining Change £484,656

Organisation Project Name Amount Awarded
Chester Voluntary Action Trustee Support and Good Practice Project £286,866
Salford Council For Voluntary Service Quality Counts £362,074
Merseyside Third Sector Technology Centre 3tc Strategic Development Advisors (SDA) pilot project £64,825
Lancaster District Council for Voluntary Service Voluntary Sector Development £497,843
Rossendale Enterprise Anchor Ltd Rossendale a Centre for Community Enterprise (RACCE) £281,575
Crewe and Nantwich Voluntary Action Supporting Communities across Crewe and Nantwich £386,898
Youth Federation for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral Quality Counts! - Training and support for the voluntary youth sector £351,849
Mersey Volunteer Bureau Bridging the Gap £494,645
Surrey Community Action Joining Forces for Skills Delivery £499,735
Reading Council For Racial Equality Developing the Voice of BME Communities in the South East £497,990
Slough Council For Voluntary Service Strengthening Slough Vol Sector's Org Development & Capacity Building Services £313,084
Reading Voluntary Action Stronger Together Programme £488,694
Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action Supporting voluntary and community groups in Oxfordshire £499,105
Volunteer Link Up Developing Support for Volunteering in West Oxfordshire £116,535
Portsmouth Race Equality Network Organisation Scaling up Portsmouth's BME Organisations £238,375
The Learning Curve (Voluntary Sector Development) SW Regional Voluntary Sector Workforce Development Advice Service £499,749
Community Foundation Network Growing Grassroots - developing sustainable finance for SW England VCOs £500,000
The Scarman Trust Barefoot Coaching £343,821
Fata He BME Development Ltd Together We Can £439,591
Warwickshire Rural Community Council Coventry and Warwickshire Voluntary Sector Assembly £238,596
Coventry And Warwickshire Co-operative Development Agency Building Social enterprise in Coventry and Warwickshire £483,980
B:RAP LTD Voluntary Equality £493,285
Council of Disabled People Warwickshire and Coventry West Midlands Regional Disability Network (RDN) £347,535
Sandwell Volunteer Bureau Supported Volunteering Project (SVP) £145,161
Community First in Herefordshire & Worcestershire E-Volution: ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Support Project £404,103
Walsall Council for Voluntary Service Walsall Voluntary Action Service Support Programme £340,805
Initiative for Social Entrepreneurs ltd Social Enterprise Hub £471,833
Birmingham Voluntary Services Council IMPACT Project £485,681
East Riding Voluntary Action Services (ERVAS) Limited ERVAS Community Support Team - Phase 1 £499,566
Humberside Learning Consortium Humber Quality, Monitoring and Evaluation Hub £82,129
Voluntary Action Calderdale CRISP-Calderdale Resource and Infrastructure Support Programme £482,088
Barnsley Association of Community Partnerships Ltd Baseline £426,097
South Yorkshire Voluntary & Community Sector Training Consortium Minerva £464,300
Selby District Association Of Voluntary Services 21st Century Voluntary and Community Sector £393,665
Humberside Learning Consortium Humber SKILLs-Skills Knowledge Information & Learning for Leaders £344,718
National Association for Voluntary and Community Action Improving Local Partnerships Unit £902,423
National Association for Voluntary and Community Action Local Commissioning and Procurement Unit £1,065,732
Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Forum Black and Minority Ethnic VCS Regional Panel for Yorkshire and the Humber £493,000
South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau Funding Development Workers For Barnsley and Doncaster £485,799

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030 Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £20 billion has now been raised and more than 280,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

Ends//
Issued: 17 January 2008
PN 08-01-25