Joe Irvin, chief executive of Navca, has suggested grants from the Big Lottery Fund are tied to a ‘voucher’ to buy in support services which will build the sustainability or longer-term resilience of the project or organisation.

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) is currently consulting with the charity sector about its future funding strategy.

The consultation will run to July 2014 and views will then form the basis of BIG's new vision and framework, which will be published by spring 2015.

In a blog published this week, Irvin says that BIG should want to fund sustainable voluntary action and try to avoid grants or other support which "initiates good activity, keeps it going for a while, then stops, and the activity is not sustained".

“Most projects are asked to draw up a plan for their long-term sustainability,” he says. “But in many cases there is not the wherewithal to make plans into reality.”

Irvin moots a new funding structure he dubs “Grant Plus”, where alongside funding for a project, charity or community group, there is a ‘voucher’ to buy in support services to help build sustainability and long-term resilience.

He adds that this approach would support the sharing of ideas and good practice.

A Cabinet Office fund delivered by Social Investment Business has a similar structure to that suggested by Irvin.

The Investment and Contract Readiness Fund provides grants to social ventures to help them raise new investment or compete for public service contracts. To access funding, social ventures must bid in partnership with an ‘approved provider’ which will provide support in becoming investment- or contract-ready.

This week, an independent report found that eight of the 94 social ventures funded by the £10m ICRF Fund have won funding worth a total of £35m.