22 May 2012
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Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund results announced
3 February 2012
More than seventy partnerships of local support and development organisations across England have received grants to transform their services and provide high quality, joined up support to frontline charities. These projects will also make it easier for organisations to forge better links with local businesses, develop stronger partnerships with local public sector bodies and for people to volunteer.
Of the 23 submissions from the North West, 15 have been successful. As a result over £5.6million will be invested in the support and development organisations operating throughout the region.
The fund, which was announced in the government’s Giving White Paper in May and is being administered by the Big Fund, the non-lottery funding operation of the Big Lottery Fund, was set up to support "transformational" activities, such as pooling resources, sharing services and forming better links with local businesses. It will not fund existing work.
An Office for Civil Society spokeswoman said the successful projects included plans to make it easier for people to volunteer, to help social entrepreneurs, to help charities take over community assets and to increase support from the private sector.
In a statement, civil society minister Nick Hurd said: "This fund is not designed to support business as usual. It is about making things better for the front line. It’s about supporting organisations with innovative business plans who want to play their part in modernising the landscape of local infrastructure."
NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) has offered to work with any area which has not been awarded a grant from the Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund to explore alternative approaches and sources of support for fulfilling the activities set out in their proposals.
The Big Lottery Fund is also planning to set up a separate £20m programme to fund support services for the voluntary sector, and will publish details of the scheme later this year. Detailed proposals about their plans will be published during 2012. It is planned that the majority of this investment will go to frontline voluntary organisations in order to give them greater choice and control over the support services which they need.
The Big Lottery Fund investment will be based on the principles of the Building Capabilities for Impact and Legacy discussion paper, which was published in December 2011. The paper can be viewed at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/buildingcapabilities. Responses to an online survey about how best to turn these principles into action can be submitted until 15th March 2012.
A list of all the Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund awards is available to download (PDF format): Click Here
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Contact Us
Voluntary Sector North WestSt. Thomas Centre
Ardwick Green North
Manchester
M12 6FZ
Tel: 0161 276 9300
Fax: 0161 276 9301
Email: info@vsnw.org.uk
