THE NATIONAL LOTTERY

The National Lottery is controlled by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is run by Camelot, a private sector consortium including Cadbury Schweppes, ICL, De La Rue and Racal.

At present, of the money received in sales 12% goes in tax to the Government, 50% to prizes, 10% to the operator with the remaining 28% going in donations to good causes. There are now six good causes which share this money, they are: Charities, Arts, Sport, Heritage, the Millennium Fund, and the New Opportunities Fund. The funding to good causes is distributed 20% to the Millennium Fund, 13.3% to the New Opportunities Fund and the other good causes each receive 16.6%. Once the Millennium Fund is wound up in 2002 its share will be allocated to the New Opportunities Fund. This will then receive a third of all the money going to good causes.

Camelot had sales of £12.5 billion up to July 1997 and £3.6 billion has been raised for the good causes. The National Lottery is expected to raise £10.85 billion for distribution to good causes over the seven year period of Camelot's licence which ends in September 2001. Camelot has its own charitable trust, the Camelot Foundation, which is quite separate from the 'good causes' money.

For Arts, Sports and Heritage, funds were originally available for capital projects; revenue funding was only available in very exceptional circumstances where it was associated with a capital project being part-funded by the lottery. This is changing - especially in the arts. For all distributing bodies except the National Lottery Charities Board, partnership funding (some other funder contributing) is important. The Charities share may be used for revenue costs as well as capital and does not require match funding.

Millennium Festival Awards For All
This is a programme for local groups in England and Scotland who want to organise an activity that celebrates the millennium (up to 31st December 2000). The activity could be in the area of arts, sports, heritage or charity. Grants will be available from £500 to £5000 and priority is given to groups with an annual income of less than £15,000. The priorities are: increasing participation; extending activities; increasing skills and creativity; making a difference to a community and longer term benefit.
The closing date for applications is June 2000.
Application pack phone line 0845 600 20 40. Text phone 0115 948 4436.
This scheme is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council of England, Sport England, NLCB, Millennium Commission in Partnership with the New Millennium Experience Company.

Charities
The National Lottery Charities Board is responsible for distributing money to charities and voluntary organisations. It currently runs a number of grants programmes, the two main ones are, Community Involvement and Poverty and Disadvantage. An application pack for both programmes is available (Telephone: 0345 919191; Textphone: 0345 556656) and there is no closing date for applications. The two programmes have broad themes:

• The Community Involvement programme aims to fund: community activities, including community safety; volunteering and community action; and support for voluntary and community groups. Groups wanting to strengthen the voluntary sector infrastructure should apply under Community Involvement.
• The Poverty and Disadvantage programme aims to fund projects working with low income families and individuals, people in deprived areas, and people at risk of poverty.

Organisations can hold more than one grant at a time. An organisation can have a grant from each of the country committees which means up to 5 grants. This has been extended and organisations with branches can now apply for grants in each of the nine English regions and for an England wide project. In addition, organisations can apply for a different project under a different grants programme or to develop a project funded by the Board that has less than one year to run.

The International Grants Programme is aimed at UK based voluntary organisations working overseas. The programme aims "to fund development projects which address the causes of poverty and inequality and make a significant improvement to the quality of life of some of the most vulnerable people in the world." The last date to request an application pack for the third round was in December 1998. This scheme has fixed application periods. The programme will open again in Autumn 1999.

The Health and Social Research programme will fund projects to conduct research into health and social issues, including medical research. This programme will support research undertaken by, or on behalf of, UK charities and voluntary organisations. The previous round closed in October 1998.

For further information contact:
North West Regional Office, National Lottery Charities Board, Dallam Court, Dallam Lane, Warrington, WA2 7LU.
Telephone: 01925 626800.
Fax: 01925 234041.
Textphone: 01925 231241.

Arts
The national Arts Councils in the UK, who each have their own programmes, are distributing the arts' share. It is an on-going process - applications are often dealt with as they come in. In general, bids are expected to be for more than £5,000 (apply to the Foundation for Sport and the Arts for lesser amounts).

In England from April 1999, the Regional Arts Boards are responsible for some funding decisions - capital grants up to £100,000 and revenue funding.

Key criteria for Arts projects

• accessibility to the general public
• medium/long term viability
• quality of design and construction
• quality of activity.

For further information contact:
Halton Borough Council Arts Development Team, Runcorn Town Hall, Heath Road, Runcorn, WA7 5TD.
Telephone: 0151 424 2061 Ext. 4134.

Arts Council of England, 14 Great Peter Street, London, SW1P 3NQ.
Telephone: 0207 312 0123.

National Heritage
Projects must help to preserve and enhance or widen public access to, or understanding and enjoyment of, one or more of the following aspects of the physical heritage:

• natural habitats and countryside
• urban green spaces and parks
• archaeological projects
• historic buildings and sites
• museum collections
• historic library collections and archives industrial, maritime and transport heritage.

The Main Grants Programme of the Heritage Lottery Fund funds capital expenditure which can be for physical work or purchases. There is no upper limit. Applications for projects over £500,000 now go through a two stage process. Revenue grants are usually up to £100,000, the priority for these grants is to widen and enhance popular access to the heritage. The minimum grant is £5,000. Partnership funding is required for heritage projects.

For further information contact:
Heritage Lottery Fund, 7 Holbein Place, London, SW1W 8NR.
Telephone: 0207 591 6000.
Textphone: 0207 591 6255.

Sport
Sport England (formerly the Sports Council) is distributing the money. The division of funds is based on population. Only capital projects are eligible. It is an on-going process - applications are dealt with as they come in.

Key points

• significant funding is expected to come from other sources; 35% is suggested
• the money must not be used to replace other public funds in any project
• refurbishment costs are eligible
• there is commitment to small local projects and a significant proportion of the funds are targeted at projects which benefit the whole community.
• children's play and play facilities are NOT eligible.

For further information contact:
Halton Borough Council Sports Development Team
Telephone: 0151 424 2061.

Sport England has a leaflet, National Lottery - How will it work for sport?, and a Sports Council bi-monthly newsletter, Lottery Link , both available from:
The Information Unit, Sport England, 16 Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0QP which also has a lottery telephone helpline on 0345 649 649, calls charged at local rate.

Millennium Fund
A temporary beneficiary until the year 2000 administered by the Millennium Commission, the money is to be spent on 6 or so major projects and a number of smaller initiatives. The third, and final round for capital projects closed at the end of November 1996. The following are its current funding activities.

• Millennium Awards to individuals. These are run by grant making organisations who can apply to run a Millennium Awards Scheme. The fourth round closed on 15 March 1999. Phone 0207 880 2072 for more information.
• A Millennium festival as a focus of celebration in the Year 2000.

The Millennium Festival Fund has two types of award:

• Larger Awards, over £5,000 will be made to projects which have an impact beyond their locality. This has now closed.
• Smaller Awards, from £500 to £5,000 will be made to groups throughout the UK for community celebrations. See Millennium Festival Awards for All.

For further information contact:
The Millennium Commission, Portland House, Stag Place, London, SW1E 5EZ.
Telephone: 0207 880 2001.
Fax: 0207 880 2000.

New Opportunities Fund
Set up in 1998, it's areas of benefit are to be identified by the Secretary of State. It's first grants programme launched in Spring 1999 includes:

• healthy living centres;
• out of school activities related to childcare and learning;
• and IT training for teachers and librarians.

• cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care;
• green spaces and sustainable communities;
• and community access to lifelong learning.

For further information contact:
New Opportunities Fund, Heron House, 322 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7PW.
Enquiry Lines: General 0845 0000 120: England 0845 0000 121.

NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts)
Established to support and promote talent, innovation and creativity in the fields of science, technology and the arts. NESTA has an initial endowment of £200 million from the government and will mainly give grants to individuals. Funding available from Spring 1999. Its Chair is Lord Puttnam.

For further information contact:
NESTA, Fishmongers' Chambers, 110 Upper Thames Street, London, EC4R 3TJ.
Telephone: 0207 645 9500.

For further information about any of the above sources of funding contact Halton Borough Council's National Lottery Officer:
Sandra Morrison, Chief Executive's Directorate, Municipal Building, Kingsway, Widnes,
WA8 7QF.
Telephone: 0151 424 2061 Ext 1154.
E-mail: Sandra.Morrison@halton-borough.gov.uk.

Other useful contact information:
OFLOT (Lottery Regulator): 0345 125596.
Camelot: 0645 100000.
Department of Culture, Media and Sport: 0207 211 6200.

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