Changes to Awards for All programme

Awards for All is a joint Lottery grants programme set up to help organisations in Northern Ireland. It involves the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Big Lottery Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport Northern Ireland.

The main aim of this programme is to fund projects which involve people in their communities, by bringing them together. The Big Lottery Fund award grants of between £500 and £10,000 for people to take part in art, sport, heritage and community activities, and projects that promote education, the environment and health in the local community .

As stated there have been some revisions to the funding priorities. A summary of the changes is listed below:

• Arts Council of Northern Ireland – main priorities will be drama and dance
• Big Lottery Fund – applicants must demonstrate how their project meets one or both of the existing priorities, low priority will be given to applications from organisations that have received a grant within the last three years. Big Lottery Fund will not fund organisations which are not legally established in the UK or trips outside the UK.
• Sport Northern Ireland – will now consider funding extra-curricular physical activity programmes within a primary school setting. Sport NI will be unlikely to fund additions or improvements to existing facilities or the start up costs associated with larger sports projects.

The changes in funding priorities will take effect from 1st April 2008. Once NICVA becomes aware of further changes to the guidance notes and application forms Grant Tracker will be updated accordingly.