What does the BIG Lottery Fund logo mean when it appears on Charity pages?

The Big Lottery Fund logo is displayed on the pages of charities that have received a grant from The Big Lottery Fund in the last 12 months or have been awarded a grant that is still active.

Many of the projects will have been awarded funding through The Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities programme which funds projects that help people and communities who are most in need, and can really make a difference. Projects can be new or existing activities, or be the core work of a charitable organisation. The projects funded through Reaching Communities respond to needs identified by communities, and fund projects that help those most in need including those people or groups who are hard to reach.

The Big Lottery Fund encourages the following changes to communities as a result of Reaching Communities funding:

- people having better chances in life, including being able to get better access to training and development to improve their life skills
- strong communities, with more active citizens, working together to tackle their problems
- improved rural and urban environments, which communities are better able to access and enjoy
- healthier and more active people and communities.

Peter Wanless, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund has commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for charitable organisations who have had projects funded by the Big Lottery Fund to raise awareness of the great work that they do. Through this partnership with the Big Give, we hope to help these organisations reach new benefactors within the world of philanthropic and corporate giving. This is particularly timely given the current socio economic climate and the associated challenges that many of these organisations will face”.

To find out more about the Big Lottery Fund, its open funding programmes, how to apply for a grant and to read about projects that have benefitted from Big Lottery Fund grants please go to: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

About BIG

From every £1 spent on National Lottery tickets 28 pence goes to supporting projects across the UK for health, education, environmental, sports, arts, heritage and charitable purposes.

BIG is the largest Lottery distributor in the UK: in 2009/10 14,000 grants were made to groups the length and breadth of the UK, totalling £440 million. These ranged from £300 to small community projects to transformational investments of over £1 million. BIG has three corporate objectives: efficiency, effectiveness and the quality of customer experience.

But there are many more good causes than there is cash available to support them. In 2009/10 BIG received over 28,000 applications requesting more than £1billion. And so The Big Give and BIG are working together to encourage greater levels of informed public giving in the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund logo indicates that the charity has successfully applied for a grant for a BIG project and has passed through a vigorous assessment and appraisal process before receiving funding for that project. The logo is not an endorsement of the charity, projects run by the charity, or the management of the grant received.