Big Lottery Fund advice to be given locally next month

A team from the Big Lottery Fund will visit Shetland next month to give practical advice and support to local groups keen to secure funding for specific projects.

The fund is due to spend £400 million in Scotland over the next five years, most through its Investing in Communities arm, which can support initiatives for up to five years, but also via Awards for All, 2014 Communities and Investing in Ideas.

Staff are embarking on a three-month tour of the country to host more than 40 information sessions and a team will be at Islesburgh Community Centre from 10am to 4pm on 16th September.

The target areas for investment include supporting local communities to acquire or develop their own assets, supporting vulnerable adults back into work and improving the quality of life for disadvantaged Scottish families.

Big Lottery Fund Scotland chairwoman Alison Magee said: “When we relaunched our flagship funding programme, Investing in Communities, we made a commitment to providing our applicants with more contact, support, help and advice at an early stage of the application process. These Big Information Events are just one of the many ways in which we hope to achieve this.

“For us it is vitally important that lottery funding is available to communities across Scotland and that local people get the support they need to submit stronger applications for funding. By touring the country over the next few months we hope to be able to meet as many of these potential applicants as possible, including a wide range of community and voluntary groups. So if you are a group with an idea for lottery funding, you need advice on how to make a good application or you simply want to find out more about the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland then the Big Information Day is for you.”