The Big Lottery Fund has today announced five new funding streams based on public opinion of how the funder should allocate its money.

Following a Channel 4 series and an Ipsos Mori poll of 2,000 people, BIG has created five new funding streams within its Millennium Now programme, the first time the funder has taken its cue directly from public opinion without first proposing options.  

Strengthening community is a consistent theme across the five Millennium Now project areas, an area which proved popular with the public.

Between £1.5 and £2m will be distributed to a single project in each of the following five project areas:

• facilitating skill-sharing between different generations;
• reducing isolation and getting communities to volunteer to address green issues;
• encouraging communities to come together to tackle local issues;
• assisting disadvantaged families in being healthy and well; and
• helping disadvantaged young people learn vocational skills.

Each of the projects will be funded for two years, and the successful projects will be the subject of another Channel 4 series.

“While this programme builds on BIG’s long-standing commitment to public involvement in grantmaking, it is unlike anything that BIG has delivered before,” said BIG chair Peter Ainsworth.

“This is the first time that we asked the general public to help us design and develop a grant programme by choosing the themes that best represent the needs and aspirations of today.”

Any charities interested in applying for the grants will have to attend a briefing session on the programme. All projects will also have to demonstrate community involvement, build links between people and their communities and show UK-wide relevance.

For more information on the grants, visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/mnow