Over 1,000 organisations applied for grants from the Local Sustainability Fund during the month long application window, but around three quarters will be unsuccessful, the Cabinet Office has said.
In figures given to Civil Society News, a spokesman for the Cabinet Office said that 1,001 applied to the Local Sustainability Fund by filling out the online diagnostic and eligibility checker.
Around 400 organisations will then be invited by the Cabinet Office to make full applications to the fund in early September. The 400 organisations will be chosen based on recommendations made by various "regional panels".
Of those 400 or so charities invited to make a full application, “approximately 260 will go on to receive grants of an average size of £70k,” said the Cabinet Office spokesman. The majority of payments will be made in March 2016, with the Cabinet Office expecting to make some further grants in April for organisation's who "return their offer letters late".
The £20m Local Sustainability Fund was originally launched by Rob Wilson on June 26, 15 months after the fund was first announced. The fund, which will be delivered through the Big Lottery Fund, will also allow eligible charities to get support from local businesses, in order to establish a “strong volunteering relationship with businesses”.
