Funding : Big Lottery Fund's Basis Round 2

Big Lottery Fund recently launched Round 2 of the very popular Basis programme which aims to develop high-quality support and services for voluntary sector organisations around England.  Only organisations (such as Councils for Voluntary Service, Development Agencies etc) that provide support, advice, information, campaigning, advocacy and training to other voluntary organisations  are eligible to apply. 

Basis Round 1 awarded £101 million to 206 infrastructure organisations across England.  Round 2 has a much smaller £50 million budget with only £5.6 million available for the West Midlands region.

The smaller budget means that Round 2 is much more focused than Round 1 with very clear and detailed priorities and criteria for applications.   There are ten priorities for the West Midlands including projects that broaden infrastructure organisations' funding base (ie sustainable income), increase infrastructure support for small organisations and encourage collaborative working across the region.  A maximum of 16 projects will be funded across the West Midlands and of those nine are specifically targeted at:-

• BME communities
• Young people
• Disabled people
• Shropshire
• Birmingham
• Sandwell
• Stoke on Trent
• Herefordshire and Worcestershire

Big Lottery Fund are very clear that if your project does not meet one of the ten priorities they will not fund you, so it is very important to read the Regional Priorities.  For more information about Basis please visit the Big Lottery Fund Basis pages or contact the Big Advice Line on 0845 602 1659