The Big Lottery Fund is a founding member of Go ON UK, with whom we are developing this programme to encourage and support more people to use computers and the internet.
Over 16 million adults in the UK don’t have the basic online skills to fully benefit from the internet, and around 7.4 million have never used a computer or the internet at all. This means that some of the most vulnerable people in society are missing out on the many benefits of the digital world.
Through this programme £15 million will be available to fund a small number of projects with UK-wide significance.
This funding will support UK-wide projects that will achieve the following outcomes, primarily through working face-to-face with beneficiaries in their local community:
- Increase the percentage of the population that use computers and the internet safely and confidently
- Support people from specific parts of the community, particularly those who are most in need and digitally excluded (for example, older people, unemployed people), to use computers and the internet safely and confidently
- Significantly advance the digital capability of voluntary and community groups to improve their service to beneficiaries.
Evaluation
We strongly encourage applicants to think about how to evaluate their activities. This will help to maximise impact and contribute to the wider evidence base about what works in developing peoples’ digital skills. We advise applicants to set aside up to 10 per cent of their total project costs for monitoring and evaluation activities.
Get advice on funding and planning successful projects
The programme will be open for applications in the autumn.
In the meantime potential applicants should think about how best to meet the outcomes above, and particularly what partners and sectors to engage with to meet the challenge of delivering activities across the UK.
Who can apply?
Partnerships will need to be led by a single organisation, which must be:
- A voluntary and or community organisation
- A public sector organisation
- A not for profit organisation, or
- A social enterprise
Applicants can apply for all the eligible costs of the project they want us to fund, including revenue, capital and overhead costs. We expect our contribution towards overheads to be calculated on a full cost recovery basis.
We do not expect to fund the following:
- large-scale provision of equipment
- new applications, portals, hubs or platforms unless they have a strong evidence of improving people’s online skills and confidence
- projects that mostly take place online or that lack direct face-to-face engagement with local communities
- any costs incurred before we award a grant.