11 December 1998

£100 million for Community Groups

Community groups and voluntary organisations in Scotland have benefited to the tune of £100 million since the National Lottery Charities Board started making grants in October 1995.

Sixty four groups are celebrating their share of a £10 million payout announced today, with a grant of £419,048 to Sleep Scotland pushing the amount of money the Charities Board has distributed in Scotland across the £100 million mark. The Edinburgh based charity which serves the whole of Scotland will use the grant to create the first-ever network of Sleep Clinics supporting the families of children with special needs who suffer severe sleeping disorders.

Today’s announcements also include the largest grant yet made by the Charities Board in Scotland - £679,778 to Fife Society for the Blind.

Today’s grants package will create several new programmes and projects for Scotland. These include:

• a radio station to be run by young people for young people
• a new day centre for people suffering from advanced Multiple Sclerosis
• a forum to express national values and aspirations to the Scottish Parliament
• a Sensory Impairment Centre to help people with multiple impairments
• a community garden for children and elderly people.

The grants are made under the Charities Board’s Community Involvement Programme which aims to help people play a fuller part in community activity and normal social life, and to strengthen the voluntary organisations which help them to do that.

Nearly 5000 projects in Scotland have been funded under the Charities Board’s programmes and it small grants schemes. A few weeks ago the Board announced plans to make its grant making procedures more transparent and to make them more accessible to potential applicants. This is expected to include an easier application process as well as opening up grant-making committees. Earlier this year the Board in Scotland piloted the Awards for All scheme which brings together the four principal lottery distributors in Scotland in an easy one-door approach for small organisations.

The Secretary of State, Donald Dewar MP, recently welcomed the Board’s new grants programme, Poverty and Disadvantage in Scotland, which he said would assist voluntary organisations to combat poverty and its root causes and would help those most affected. Applications are invited on 0345 919191.