National Lottery Charities Board Northern Ireland

Small grants, Northern Ireland, launch revised application form

The Small Grants team in Northern Ireland launched its new revised application pack at the beginning of May 2000.

Although major eligibility rules (such as group's having an income of under �15,000 and applying for up to �5,000 to be spent in a six month period) remain unchanged, the form contains important revisions and has been introduced to help make it easier for applicant groups to apply. One of the major issues with Small Grants applications is the high number of applications currently received, which do not contain all the relevant information/documents which are necessary to assess an application. The Small Grants team has made the revisions to the form, with the aim of reducing the number of incomplete applications received.

Small Grants Co-ordinator, Maura O'Kane said: "The Small Grants scheme is aimed at the smaller community groups and charities. We hope through these changes, to make the scheme even more accessible and straightforward for applicants." The changes include further guidance on how to fill in the application form, particularly on areas which have caused difficulty in the past, for example, the finance, contract and referee sections.

The new application form can be obtained by calling the dedicated Application Line: 08457 919191 and requesting a Small Grants application pack.