National Lottery Charities Board Scotland

Scotland News

New grant-making committee approves �4.2 million for Scotland's voluntary sector

Children who have lost a parent, brother or sister through murder are to receive new support from a lottery funded project. The National Lottery Charities Board has awarded �155,000 to Victim Support Scotland to research the needs of children after a traumatic bereavement. Victim Support Scotland will develop new services to meet those needs.

And Scottish women will receive training in political skills designed to enable them play a fuller part as citizens. Engender, the Edinburgh based group dedicated to achieving equality for women, will receive �133,000 to train women to deliver political skills training in their local communities.

Scotland's 139 Citizen's Advice outlets receive �193,658 towards the cost of exchanging filing cabinets for on-line advice, as the organisation moves away from a paper-based advice service to an electronic document management system. The Scottish Association of Citizens' Advice Bureaux will link up to a new system being introduced in England and Wales.

The grants are part of a �4.2 million package approved this week by a newly constituted grant making committee of the National Lottery Charities Board in Scotland. A total of 31 Scottish organisations will benefit from the grants announced today.

At its first full meeting, the three members of the committee appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport were joined by three members recruited by open advertising. The three have been recruited by the Charities Board during recent months in an effort to broaden the base of its grant-making committee and make its membership more representative of voluntary sector interests.

The grants package announced today will benefit almost every part of Scotland. It will provide community halls in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Dundee, and will provide electricity for the first time to the community of Badrallach, on the shores of Little Loch Broom.

A grant of �247,345 to the Glasgow based Centre for Independent Living will create for the first time a city-wide register of suitable accommodation which can be accessed through computers by people with disabilities - removing the need for an arduous search by househunters.

The grants announced today bring the total awarded in Scotland by the National Lottery Charities Board to over �187 million.

For more information and arrangements to interview successful applicants contact Kay Caldwell or Kirsty Mullan on 0131 221 7100 or 0468 583441.

• A full list of grants awarded can be found on the database of awards. Click here to access this.
• Click here for more information about the members of the Scotland committee.

Racial Equality in Grant Making - Report Published

On 30 October 2000, the National Lottery Charities Board held it's first ever conference challenging key funding agencies on the issue of institutional racism. The conference was organised in order to help us meet our priority to fund more projects benefiting black and minority ethnic communities in Scotland.

A full report capturing the main points which emerged during the conference has now been published . To view this document on our website you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3.0 or above on your computer, which can also be obtained by clicking below.

• Click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Conference report: To download this document, click the right mouse button on the link below and select "Save as" or "Save target as".

• Download the conference report.

Lottery funds are going where they should!

Research into the first National Lottery Charities Board grants ever made in Scotland indicates that the grants have reached the parts of Scotland where they are most needed.

These research findings have been published in a report, which is available in full-length and summary versions from this website. These documents require you to have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3.0 or above on your computer, which can also be obtained from this website.

• Click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Research reports: To download these, click the right mouse button on the link of interest and select "Save as" or "Save target as".

• The full report of research findings
• The summary report of research findings

New agreement reached

A revised agreement between the National Lottery Charities Board, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). has been concluded.

The agreement aims to enlist the support of local authorities in providing support to voluntary organisations who want to apply to the Board.

It will also provide the opportunity for local authorities to explore the strategic needs of the voluntary sector within their areas.

Taken For Granted? Racial Equality in Grant Making

On 30 October 2000, over 150 people from across Scotland conquered land slides and rail delays to participate in the National Lottery Charities Board's first ever conference challenging key funding agencies on the issue of institutional racism. Representatives from both Black and Minority Ethnic Groups and grant-makers were present at the event, which was supported by the Commission for Racial Equality and chaired by its Director for Scotland, Dharmendra Kanani.

The conference was organised in order to help us meet our priority to fund more projects benefiting black and minority ethnic communities in Scotland. It was also organised in response to the MacPherson Report, which identified institutional racism as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin."

Throughout the day, voluntary groups had the chance to attend practical seminars and advice sessions, as well as taking part in discussion groups with funders and policy makers. They described the difficulties they had experienced in accessing funds and discussed ways in which things could be improved.

At the event the Kay Caldwell Communications Manager for the National Lottery Charities Board said:

"Given our commitment to meeting the needs of the most disadvantaged groups in society, more of our funds should be going to black and minority ethnic communities.

"We need to find out why this is not happening, and we also need to identify the kinds of projects that are going to make the greatest difference to these communities. Last year we received only one application from the minority ethnic community in Glasgow. This is clearly not good enough and we need to find out if we are unintentionally placing barriers in the way of these applications. Today's conference will help to ensure that the Board's funding agenda in Scotland meets the real needs of black and minority ethnic groups."

As the conference drew to a close the Chair of the National Lottery Charities Board's Scotland Committee, Kay Hampton and the Director for Scotland, Adri�nne Kelbie signed up to the Commission for Racial Equality's Leadership Challenge. In accepting the challenge, they acknowledged their own, as well as the Board's responsibility towards ensuring that racial discrimination has no place in Scotland's present and future.

One conference delegate was heard saying, "This was an excellent event and the welcome beginning of a dialogue!"

If you would like to apply to the Board for a grant you can download the application form from the publications section of this website or telephone the Board's application hotline on 0845 791 91 91.

For further information you can call the Board's enquiries line on 0870 240 2391 or click here to email the Board's Information and Enquiries Officer.