- Area:
- North West England
- Programme:
- Supporting Change and Impact
- Release date:
- 20 3 2012
Charities across the North West, which are feeling the effects of public funding cuts, including a Preston-based domestic violence project and a children’s disability initiative in rural Cumbria, have been given a Lottery lifeline today.
Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has awarded 36 of its grant holders in the North West region an extra year’s worth of funding to enable them to continue their work through the tough economic environment. Grants of up to £10,000 have also been awarded to a further 104 projects to help them review their work and find ways of becoming more sustainable.
Projects sharing in the funding - totalling over £4.9 million - provide vital services to some of the most vulnerable groups in society. Many face an uncertain future as their Lottery funding comes to an end, compounded by increasing demand from beneficiaries as other services are forced to scale back or close down, and welfare reforms begin to take effect.
Preston Domestic Violence Services (PDVS) is receiving £140,331 to adapt and expand its resources to support an increasing number of women and children who have been victims of domestic violence, helping them to have better life chances and develop their life skills. Over the current financial year PDVS has catered for 25% more beneficiaries than in 2010-11.
Valerie Wise, Chief Executive of Preston Domestic Violence Services, said: “We are unique in Preston because we are the only domestic violence service provider. I also think we are unique in terms of the Hope Centre, which BIG funds. It’s a thriving centre for victims of domestic violence and we have also widened out to sexual violence. It’s a place you can just drop into but there are also therapeutic sessions as well as advice sessions. We are finding that more and more services are being directed to us to access our support. Children’s Social Care are referring more families to us for our therapeutic sessions and recovery groups. We are finding quite a lot of people are now having this put as part of their child protection programme. Statutory agencies are referring people to us more and more.”
PDVS, which also runs a volunteering programme and outreach service for women from black and minority ethnic communities, will use its Impact funding to cover running costs at the Hope Centre, where beneficiaries will be able to gain qualifications from accredited courses.
Annie Mawson’s Sunbeams Music Trust (Sunbeams) will receive a vital grant of £126,275 in order to cope with a dramatic rise in the number of beneficiaries and introduce additional therapy sessions. The project encourages learning and confidence building for severely disabled children in rural Cumbria through fun musical workshops.
Annie Mawson, founder and Chief Executive of Sunbeams, said: “The Sunbeams approach is unique - renowned for its effective delivery to people marginalised by disability and/or isolation. We have consistently exceeded our projected outcomes over the past three years, which is why this funding is SO important to us. For example In Barrow, we hoped to serve 16 families for children with complex medical needs, but already this figure stands at 45, and 151 family members instead of the expected 80. It is impossible to turn vulnerable people away.”
The funding is part of a Big Lottery Fund initiative called Supporting Change & Impact, which totals over £70m and is designed to help Lottery-funded good causes cope with the developing impact of public funding cuts. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) estimates that voluntary and community groups will experience a reduction in public funding of up to £3.3 billion by 2015.
Helen Bullough, BIG’s Head of the North West region, said: “As a major funder of the charitable and community sector, Big Lottery Fund is only too aware of the increasing pressures facing organisations across the sector as the full effect of public funding cuts comes to bear. I am certain that PDVS and Sunbeams will continue to make a huge difference to the lives of a rising number of people in need.”
As part of the £70m support package, BIG also added over £25m to its two main open grants programme in England, Reaching Communities and Awards for All, to fund an additional 1,200 charitable and community projects, and has awarded almost £20 million to partner organisations that distribute or manage funding on its behalf to further support their grant holders. These include MIND, Groundwork, and Age UK, who deliver funding as part of BIG’s Well-being and Changing Spaces grants programmes.
A full list of projects awarded an extra year’s funding.
A list of projects receiving up to £10,000 to review and plan for the future.
Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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