Annex D
NEW OPPORTUNITIES FUND AND COMMUNITY FUND
SHAPING A NEW DISTRIBUTOR
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This paper proposes a vision for what
a New Lottery Distributor could look like. It proposes initial
ideas, from which more concrete proposals could be developed.
The proposals are intended to inform the Lottery White Paper and
subsequent legislation.
2. KEY POINTS
2.1 In summary, the vision is that the New
Distributor will:
— Through its funding, make real and
sustainable improvements to the lives of disadvantaged people
and to the well-being of local communities (paragraph 3.1.1).
— Provide funding that is additional
to government spending (paragraph 3.3.1)
— Make decisions on grants independent
of government control (paragraph 3.2.1).
— Operate a devolved approach to development
and decision making wherever appropriate (paragraphs 3.5.1-3.5.3).
— Work in partnership with other organisations
at local, regional and national levels and encourage partnership
working within the projects it funds (paragraph 4.3.1).
— Work strategically so that funding
complements funding available from other sources and so that programmes
complement local, regional and national strategies and plans (paragraph
3.3.2).
— Ensure guaranteed funding for the
voluntary and community sector (paragraph 3.4.1).
— Develop funding programmes, through
a strategic planning process, which specify the difference they
are seeking to make through outcomes (paragraphs 4.1.1-4.1.4 and
appendix 1).
— Offer a range of open and prescribed
funding programmes (paragraphs 4.1.1-4.1.4 and appendix 1).
— Ensure easier access to the open
programmes for the voluntary and community sector (see paragraph
4.1.2 for the definition of open programmes).
— Provide support to help groups apply
(paragraph 3.6.1).
— Assess the impact of its funding
and disseminate lessons more widely, finding out which approaches
to tackling disadvantage are most successful (paragraphs 3.7.2-3.7.3)
— Make people proud of the National
Lottery by showcasing examples of what is funded and achieved
(paragraph 3.9.1).
3. PRINCIPLES
3.1 The New Lottery Good Cause
3.1.1 Through its funding of programmes
and projects, the New Distributor will make real and sustainable
improvements to the lives of disadvantaged people and to the well-being
of local communities.
3.2 Independence, governance and equalities
3.2.1 The New Distributor will place a high
value on the skills, knowledge and judgement of its Board, grant-making
Committees and its staff. All decision-making on funding applications
will be transparent and independent of government control.
3.2.2 A commitment to equality will underpin
all its policies and practices.
3.3 Additionality
3.3.1 The New Distributor's funds will be
additional to current or planned expenditure by central government,
the devolved administrations, local government and other statutory
bodies.
3.3.2 The New Distributor's Funding Programmes
will complement other sources of funding and will offer different
approaches to deliver the programme outcomes (see 4.2 below).
3.3.3 The New Distributor may also adopt
funding policies which encourage local authorities and other statutory
bodies to support the work of the voluntary and community sector
in their areas and which make it clear that the New Distributor
will not intervene with additional support when local statutory
funding is inadequate or is withdrawn.
3.4 Guaranteed Funding for the Voluntary and
Community Sector
3.4.1 The New Distributor will recognise
the value added by the voluntary and community sector, for example,
in the sector's ability to work across boundaries and to provide
innovative community-led solutions. It will guarantee a proportion
of funding to the voluntary and community sector through the Open
Grants Programmes (see paragraph 4.1.2 below). The guaranteed
proportion will be equal to the proportion of total Lottery funding
currently allocated to the Community Fund to fund the voluntary
and community sector. However, this will be a minimum rather than
a maximum figure.
3.5 Devolution
3.5.1 The New Distributor will build on
the present Community Fund and NOF structures to reflect the distinct
governance arrangements for each of the devolved administrations.
This approach will recognise the distinctiveness of the four countries
that make up the United Kingdom and will ensure that all programme
development and decision making are devolved at least to the four
countries, unless there are compelling reasons for a UK wide approach.
Even where a UK wide approach is necessary, programme development
will involve appropriate consultation within the four countries.
3.5.2 The New Distributor will recognise
that decision making about individual grants can take place at
a number of levels, including UK wide, country, English region,
county, district, and local community. Different programmes will
require different levels of decision making and the principle
of subsidiarity should be applied. Factors that will need to be
taken into account in determining the appropriate level for decision
making will include:
— what will best achieve the intended
programme outcomes;
— efficiency and cost effectiveness;
— political and administrative structures
with which the New Distributor can engage to maximise the value
of, and promote, Lottery funding;
— customer care and accessibility for
applicants.
3.5.3 The present country and regional structure
of both NOF and the Community Fund seeks to balance these sometimes
conflicting factors and provides both a presence close to applicants
and a responsiveness to need at local level. It is likely to represent
a sound basis for the delivery of a major part of the work of
the New Distributor.
3.6 Customer Focus
3.6.1 The New Distributor will provide a
single point of entry to all its Grants Programmes that will
1. Steer potential applicants to the right
grants programme for their project, (which may also include Grants
Programmes provided by other Lottery Distributors and other funders).
2. Where the project idea is not sufficiently
developed, steer applicants to a source of support which can help
them develop it. This outreach support may be provided directly
by the New Distributor, its agents or external agencies (such
as Councils for Voluntary Service or Local Authority Lottery Officers).
3.6.2 The New Distributor will reduce the
time between an application being submitted and a decision being
made (compared to current Community Fund and New Opportunities
Fund arrangements), and provide helpful information to applicants
during this process on the progress of their applications.
3.6.3 Where applicants match the criteria
of more than one distributor, the New Distributor will take the
lead role in managing the grant process (for example, as in the
joint West Midlands Community Buildings Project).
3.6.4 The New Distributor will seek to take
a proactive lead in developing joint working with other Distributors
of Lottery funding, including by developing joint programmes (such
as the existing cross-distributor Awards For All programmes),
where this will provide benefits to potential applicants.
3.7 The Intelligent Grant-Maker
3.7.1 The New Distributor will be clear
about the impact it is seeking to achieve. It will develop Programmes
with specified outcomes, which it will publish in a three year
Strategic Plan.
3.7.2 The New Distributor will give high
priority to research and evaluation so that it builds up an understanding
of which types of projects and programmes best achieve their outcomes.
This learning will be used to develop its own programmes and for
disseminating high profile information about the effectiveness
of different approaches, providing a showcase for examples of
innovation and good practice.
3.7.3 Research and evaluation will be co-ordinated
at a UK-wide level, but will be supplemented by the more detailed
knowledge of, and circumstances in, each Country and in each English
region.
3.7.4 The New Distributor will play a key
role in levering in funding from other sources to help projects
develop under its themes, and in brokering relationships and networks
between projects and more widely.
3.8 Geographical targeting
3.8.1 The New Distributor will adopt a geographically
based strategy that makes sure that its Lottery funding is effectively
targeted at disadvantaged people and disadvantaged communities
throughout the UK. This may include setting a minimum amount per
capita that no deprived area (local authority or smaller) would
be allowed to fall below without remedial action being taken.
3.9 Funding for open programmes
3.9.1 Funding for open programmes will be
allocated for any which are run centrally and then between the
four UK countries and between the nine England regions using an
allocation formula based on population and a range of deprivation
indicators.
3.10 Lead role
3.10.1 The New Distributor could take a
lead role in promoting and publicising the good causes it supports
directly and which are more generally supported by the National
Lottery, both centrally and through a network of country and regional
Communications and Outreach staff. This would be directly linked
to the work of the Joint Promotional Unit which would have the
overall strategic objective of promoting the National Lottery
as a whole and making the linkage between the games and the good
causes. The New Distributor could also itself host the Joint Promotional
Unit.
3.10.2 The New Distributor could also take
the lead role in encouraging access to the full range of National
Lottery funding and not just the funds directly distributed through
the New Distributor. This could include developing a pre-application
support process for all distributors, further developing and enhancing
the Awards for All programme, operating further joint schemes
addressing particular issues or themes and providing specialist
expertise to support the delivery of major cross-cutting capital
projects.
4. FUNDING PROGRAMMES
4.1 Funding Framework
4.1.1 Following consultation with all stakeholders,
the New Distributor will agree a three-year Strategic Plan with
the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, which describes
its Grants Programmes. The Programmes will be based around a set
of themes with high level outcomes, agreed in consultation with
the Government, devolved administrations and key stakeholders,
included in the plan. Within the overall framework, certain types
of programmes could be drawn up at a local level involving the
active participation of local communities. In addition, the New
Distributor could engage in active public consultation as part
of the strategic planning process. Once the Strategic Plan was
approved, the actual details of inputs and outputs would be a
matter for the Distributor to determine.
Within the overall themes, there will be two
types of Grants Programmes[1]
as follows:
4.1.2 Open Programmes: These will
have very broad outcomes, related to each theme or cutting across
several themes. These Programmes can be used by voluntary and
community groups and community businesses to explore what geographic
communities and communities of interest can do for themselves
("supplier-generated solutions"). A range of grants
will be available, based on the amount requested. The rigour of
application, assessment and management processes will be appropriate
to the grant size.
4.1.3 Prescribed Programmes: These
will have more tightly defined outcomes described in the Strategic
Plan, also related to the themes, which specifically describe
what difference the Distributor intends to make. These Programmes
can be accessed by voluntary and community groups and others to
provide solutions that, combined, will achieve the specified outcome
4.1.4 An illustration of how the Grants
Programmes might look is attached at Annex One.
4.2 Programme Delivery
4.2.1 The New Distributor will deliver its
Grant Programmes in different ways. It will decide which mechanism
to use, based on factors such as
— efficiency and cost effectiveness
— what will best achieve the intended
Programme outcome(s)
— where specific expertise may add
value to the assessments of and decisions on grants.
The range of options available may include the
following:
4.2.2 Strategic decision-making:
Decisions made at a UK-wide level for flagship projects and ones
that require specific technical knowledge to assess.
4.2.3 Devolution: Devolving decision-making
within the distributor's own structure to Country, Regional and
local level. Devolving some decisions to staff may also increase
efficiency and turnaround times.
4.2.4 Delegation: Delegating decision-making
outside of the distributor to another body.
4.2.5 Direct Allocation: Allocating
grants directly to providers where they are already best placed
to deliver a service.
4.2.6 Local Decision Making: Where
local people draw up spending plans or sit on panels that decide
grants. This can be combined with another mechanism above, such
as delegation.
4.2.7 The New Distributor will also have
the power to provide other types of funding than grants, such
as loans, endowments, venture capital and underwritten guarantees.
4.2.8 Non-Lottery money could be delivered
using any of these mechanisms.
4.3 Who can apply?
4.3.1 Any of the following three types of
organisation can apply, but eligibility for the Open Grants Programmes
will be restricted to the first two, unless the organisation is
part of a voluntary sector-led partnership. Across all its programmes,
the New Distributor will promote the value of collaboration and
partnership working:
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| Prescribed Programmes |
1.Voluntary and community organisations (as per Community Fund's current eligibility criteria), or partnerships led by voluntary and community organisations which include any other category.
2.Community and social enterprises (eg Community Interest Companies, charitable Industrial and Provident Societies).
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| Open Programmes 3. |
| Statutory or Commercial agencies and other non-political community-based agencies (eg schools, patient interest groups, race equality councils, Primary Care Trusts, Foundation Hospitals). If they are part of a voluntary sector-led partnership, these organisations can also apply to the Open Grants Programmes.
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4.3.2 Funding should be available to all sizes of applicants
ranging from large national organisations to locally-based community
groups.
4.3.3 Through its funding programmes, the New Distributor
will seek to ensure voluntary and community organisations are
able to play a full part in local partnerships with statutory
and other bodies.
4.4 What can they apply for?
4.4.1 Through the Open Programmes, capital and revenue
funding will be available for activities such as service delivery,
research, organisational development, international development,
infrastructure support and campaigning,
4.4.2 Funding through the Prescribed Programmes may be
more restricted depending on the specific outcome being sought.
4.5 Managing Demand and choosing between applications
4.5.1 The New Distributor's pre-application process will
provide an opportunity to give applicants an early indication
of their realistic expectations of funding, and provide (or broker)
early support to prospective applicants whose bids may otherwise
have been unsuccessful.
4.5.2 For the Open Grants Programmes, the primary means
of choosing between applications will be an assessment of the
proposed outcomes and of the organisation's ability to deliver
them.
4.5.3 For the Prescribed Programmes, there will, by definition,
be a narrower range of applicants and it will therefore be easier
to assess applications on the basis of the ability of the organisation
to deliver outcomes.
4.5.4 In both types of programme, the final decisions
will be made on the basis of the judgement of the Board and its
grant-making Committees or in accordance with approved schemes
of delegation.
4.6 Grant making on behalf of other organisations
4.6.1 The New Distributor will also have the power to
distribute non-lottery funding and will have a range of delivery
mechanisms which it can use in doing so.
1
In this paper, "Open Programmes" are those where the
applicant defines the detailed outcomes at the level of the individual
project and the means to achieve them, while "Prescribed
Programmes" are those where, following consultation, the
high level outcomes are agreed by the New Distributor. Back
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