Kelly Hart, East Midlands Regional Policy and Partnerships Officer at the Big Lottery gave the keynote address at the AGM.
Kelly joined the former Community Fund in 2003 and has had many different roles within Community Fund and now Big Lottery Fund including assessing Grants as a Grants Officer, development and communication work as an Enquires Officer and now working in the Policy and Partnerships team. She has worked in all aspects of grant making within BIG and also lived through the merger.
Kelly continues to assess grant applications by working freelance for Children in Need and assessing projects working with and for children. Outside work, she volunteers for two voluntary organisations.
There were a number of interesting bits in Kelly’s presentation:
- The lottery has raised £20 billion for good causes since 1994-with £977million in the East Midlands, and £6.62 million in High Peak - 265 awards. The local figure doesn’t include regional / county / national grants for work that covers High Peak.
- One thing that came up is that Lottery Grant funding not assessed regionally any more - since BIG was formed, applications are sent to Birmingham / Newcastle, and only the Policy and Partnerships team are left in region.
- 2 lottery funding programmes - family learning and playful ideas - have had few (none?) proposals from High Peak.
- Top tips - also relevant to other funders. Plea for applicants to read the guidance notes. Ensure you talk about needs in your area - because apps are being assessed in Birmingham / Newcastle, the grant officer won’t know the needs of the local area. Consider sustainability - what happens when money runs out?
- The Lottery Website includes case studies, spreadsheets and tools (Full Cost Recovery etc) to help groups.
View slides:
A pdf file of Kelly’s presentation “Big Lottery in the High Peak”
And a short video clip of Kelly giving her presentation:
After the presentation, there was opportunity for questions:
Alistair McDonald asked Kelly - “are we getting our share in the High Peak?” Kelly replied that she thought that we were. They do lots of analysis looking and picking out “cold spots” where there are few applications, which might be because of lack of CVS. H Peak is not one of those she said.
Louise from Grapevine Project talked about their project moving, and looking for new premises. Because the application and scroing process takes so long, the premises could be gone and no longer available. Kelly answered by saying that if you haven’t got building etc, the Lottery will have requirements that can secure the grant while you search.
Nigel, the CVS Development Programme Manager, asked a question raised at another forum he had attended, about getting feedback. Applicants can now get feedback from grants officers. If the applciation is unsuccessful, the group can talk to grant officer about areas of strengths and weaknesses.
Hayley from Chinley Community Association asked about the Community buildings fund - they have an application in, and have been told they need to wait until Dec. for an answer. Kelly admitted that this programme was 4-6 times over subscribed, despite having £50million to allocate.
Kelly didn’t get the question she expected - about the Olympics - so asked it (and answered it!) herself. Yes, BIGwill be affected, with some funding diverted to Olympics. All amounts already stated will not be affected (up until 2009). Post 2009 will be more difficult, and the Lottery will need to be smarter about how and where it is allocated. There will be a large consultation next year about this.
