Welsh projects benefit from National Lottery
Last Updated: Wednesday 23rd June 2010, 12:04
Recently a Welsh couple scooped a huge £45 million on the Euro Millions but they are not the only people from Wales that have benefited from the lottery over the past 15 years. Many Welsh projects benefit from National Lottery funding and since the first balls were drawn in 1994 over £1 billion has been awarded to good causes in Wales.
There are four main distributing bodies for National Lottery funding in Wales, these are the Big Lottery Fund which is responsible for more than half of the money going to good causes, the Arts Council for Wales, Sports Council and Heritage Lottery Fund and between them they have handed out awards to over 25,000 projects in Wales.
The Big Lottery Fund otherwise known as BIG has invested over £600 million in 22,000 projects alone and is currently investing over £1 million every week. Over the years more then £100 million has been invested in services for young people, £50 million building PE and sports facilities for schools and communities across Wales and a further £8.5 million to support young people with learning difficulties.
Funding is available for a broad range of projects of all sizes. BIG offers small grants of between £500 and £5,000 for community groups through their Awards for All Wales programme and larger grants of up to £1 million through their People and Places programme. All of their programmes are designed to target the most needy and in 2010 they are launching new programmes to help communities deal with the recession and tackle poverty in Wales.
If you live in Wales and wish to apply for a grant to support a project in your local community you can find out how to go about accessing the fund by calling 01686 611 700 or by visiting www.biglotteryfund.org.uk