BIG searches for group to run £200m Local Trust

27 Jul 2010 News

The Big Lottery Fund is seeking expressions of interest from organisations to create and manage its £200m Local Trust.

The Big Lottery Fund is seeking expressions of interest from organisations to create and manage its £200m Local Trust.

The trust, which today announces it’s first 50 recipients of grants worth £1m, will oversee the running of grant programme which involves funder identifying deprived regions in England which have typically failed to secure funding. The first 50 regions to benefit from the fund will have ten years to spend the £1m grants, which are designed to improve the quality of life in the area.

At least another 50 regions will be funded by the programme in the next year and a half, according to BIG plans – which means that the funding will be well underway before the new independent trust tasked with managing the programme is firmly established. Organisations interested in running the multi-million pound trust are asked to register expressions of interest before August 12, 2010.

Instead, local organisations will be used as partners in the distribution and management of the funds in the first regions to receive grants.

“The Big Local Trust funding stream will help local people identify their pressing issued and develop the skills and confidence necessary to start changing things in their community for the better.

“The Trust will involve people in each of the selected 50 areas to decide on the best way to use the funding. This builds on BIG’s record of giving people a greater say in where Lottery money goes.”

Peter Wanless, chief executive of BIG (pictured), said that the trust will help residents identify and address areas of local need.

It is not possible for communities to apply for funding via the scheme, designed, as it is, to fund areas which lack the infrastructure to effective apply for funding.