The Big Lottery Fund Scotland has opened new funding programmes which will see £250 million distributed in Scotland over five years
Scotland's biggest lottery distributor has announced how it intends to spend £250 million over the next five years.
The Big Lottery Fund Scotland has opened a new five-year funding programme, which will focus on helping people and communities most in need.
It will give groups in Scotland the chance to apply for grants from £10,000 to £1m to help finance projects which are community led or will improve lives between now and 2020.
We have refreshed and redeveloped our approach and focus so we will work with communities and organisations to support activity which is people centred, strengths based and has good local connections
Opening the new funding scheme at Big Lottery funded Healthy n Happy in Rutherglen, Maureen McGinn, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, said: “I am delighted to be here to announce our main funding offer is now open for business. In these challenging times we hope this new Lottery money will open the door to support activity which puts people in the lead at the heart of their communities.
“We have refreshed and redeveloped our approach and focus so we will work with communities and organisations to support activity which is people centred, strengths based and has good local connections. We are sure our new approach will ensure our lottery funds make a truly life-changing and inspirational difference to people across Scotland."
The funder also claims to have simplified its application process to make applying for funds more straightforward.
Big Lottery Fund is the leading non statutory funder of the voluntary and community sector and has since 2006 has awarded over £729 million to over 21,000 projects here in Scotland.
Healthy n Happy is a key organisation for community activity in Rutherglen, supported by local people as well as a range of partners and funders. Each year around 6,000 local people enjoy the activities on offer and the group has received £1.7m from Big Lottery Fund Scotland for nine projects.
Brendan Rooney, executive director at Healthy n Happy, said: “We are delighted to host Big Lottery Fund as they announce the launch of their new five-year funding scheme, and are pleased that strength based approaches have been recognised in this new programme. It will play a critical role in sustaining the valuable work of community-led organisations like Healthy n Happy for the next five years and beyond. We wish the Fund and all beneficiaries every success and we look forward to a continued excellent working partnership.”
Visit the Big Lottery Fund Scotland website for more details of the programmes.
