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Lottery Funding

Big Lottery Fund

Organisation:

The Big Lottery Fund receives 50% of the funds raised by the lottery for good causes (excluding the Olympics). In general terms its funding covers health, education, environment and charitable purposes.

This page is designed to give a general briefing on the Big Lottery Fund's Strategic Framework and Programmes.

Strategic Framework

The Big Lottery Fund's activities are based on three main themes:

  • Supporting community learning and creating opportunity
  • Promoting community safety and cohesion
  • Promoting well-being

These themes are supported by four outcomes:

  • People having better chances in life, with better access to training and development to improve their life skills
  • Stronger communities, with more active citizens working together to tackle their problems
  • Improved rural and urban environments, which communities are better able to access and enjoy
  • Healthier and more active people and communities

The Big Lottery Fund has developed some strategic programmes that are directly linked to specific outcomes, whilst others cut across their strategic themes.

The Big Lottery Fund aims to allocate a third of its funding to demand-led programmes and two-thirds of funding to strategic programmes between 2005 and 2009. It expects to have £2.3bn for programmes between 2006-9 and aims to distribute c.60-70% to voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations (across the demand-led and strategic programmes)

For more information about Programmes

Notes and Comments

  • Reaching Communities' (England) programme launched in Dec 2005 and is proving very popular with applicants
  • MLA are working in partnership with BIG on the Community Libraries programme (England) and application forms have been sent to all public library services

« Back to Current Funding Opportunities


The Council, Vandaleur Estate, Co. Clare, c.1888. Courtesy of the National Photographic Archive, Ireland.


Press cutting about The Great Smog, 1952. Courtesy of the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Science.

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