Funding News March 2008
- Outgoing chief executive Stephen Dunmore has said that the Big Lottery Fund is likely to fund fewer and less specific programmes from 2009. The current range of 15-20 programmes is, he says, “over-complicated”.
- Two London boroughs may miss out on cash from the Working Neighbourhood Fund. According to original calculations, the London Borough of Camden and Westminster City Council would get £15million and £9.9million respectively, but due to an administrative error they may miss out. The fund is given to the most disadvantaged areas using a joint measure of benefit claims rates and unemployment, but the original calculations used flawed census data. A final decision will be made by the Dept for Communities and Local Government.
- The Arts Council has announced its funding for 2008-2011. 185 organisations which had been funded between 2005 and 2008 have had their funding cut, and 27 will have their funding cut. A total of 888 organisations will be funded by £1.3billion. The chief executive Alan Davey said “it creates a real climate for excellence and innovation in the arts”. For a list of organisations visit www.artscouncil.org.uk/index.php
- The Big Lottery Fund has announced 10 towns in England who will receive funds from the Community Builders Programme to develop community buildings. For more details see www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/index/
- The new Chief Executive of the nationalised Northern Rock has announced that the charitable arm of the bank will be guaranteed a minimum of £15million a year for the next two years. Previous years budgets have been as high as £28million. Northern Rock’s new board will be asked to identify a viable long term future for the foundation.
