The Big Lottery Fund is to announce a new five year funding programme which will see £250m handed to charities and community groups in Scotland today.
Having been granted a reprieve in George Osborne's spending review - which had been predicted to see a £30m cut to its annual budget - the Big Lottery Fund in Scotland is to make grants of £10000 to £1 million available to help finance projects promising to improve lives and communities.
At a launch event in Rutherglen today [Thu], Maureen McGinn, chair of Big in Scotland will claim that in challenging times, the new programmes are 'open for business' and will back those who take a lead in the heart of communities.
She is expected to add: "We will work with communities and organisations to support activity which is people centred, strengths based and has good local connections.
"We have also simplified our application process to make applying for funds more straightforward. We want to make it easier for those who have not applied to us before to do so now."
The launch will take place at Healthy n Happy, a centre in Rutherglen which provides activities to about 6,000 local people every year, and which has had nine projects funded by the lottery for sums totalling £1.7m.
John Downie, director of public affairs at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said the decision to spare the Big Lottery Fund had been a victory for the campaign of opposition from charities opposing the proposal to divert lottery funds from charities to mitigate cuts to art and sport.
"Had this gone ahead, as had been widely expected in recent weeks, Scotland’s charities could have lost out on £30-£70m. This would have been devastating. But the sector came together with partners across the UK to lead a fight against any cuts, and today we see the results of our hard work," he said.
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