WIREDGOV

The Big Lottery Fund is today announcing almost £1,400,000 in funding to develop an innovative learning campaign that will inspire rural communities across the UK to set up social enterprises.

Building on the success of the Village SOS programme the Fund’s new investment will see the launch of The Village SOS Learning, Outreach and Engagement Campaign, an innovative two-year learning programme led by rural network Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) working with a nationwide partnership of eight organisations.

The campaign will provide an educational network for rural communities, enabling them to develop sustainable business ideas to start their own social enterprises such as setting up a shop, saving a local pub or opening a cinema.
 
Creating a central Rural Hub, the campaign will match each new enterprise with a trained mentor and a local grassroots support organisation, who will offer support and advice ranging from how to plan a project to building a brand.
 
The focus of the campaign will be a community to community learning network, which will see volunteers from social enterprises across the UK become mentors to share the secrets of their success.

A champion of rural regeneration, the Big Lottery Fund created Village SOS, an innovative funding programme that put a spotlight on village community projects and sought to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities that people living in rural areas across the UK face, inspiring people to get involved and make a difference in their communities.
 
Peter Ainsworth, Big Lottery Fund Chair said: “Village SOS achieved great things in far flung places across the UK; and it taught us a lot about the needs of rural communities. Many want help and guidance - as well as funding - to fulfil their potential. I wish ACRE and their partners every success as they use our funds to make life better in places that are too often overlooked."

ACRE Chief Executive Janice Banks said: “The ACRE Network and its Village SOS partners are trusted local voices with a great track record of helping rural communities to find innovative solutions to the unique challenges they face.

“Village SOS is all about communities helping each other and our approach will ensure that communities thinking about setting up a social enterprise will learn from and be inspired by someone who has been through it themselves and made a real difference to village life.”
                                       
The grassroots support in England will be provided by ACRE’s Network of 38 rural community councils; in Wales by Wales Council for Voluntary Action; in Scotland by Senscot and Forth Sector; and in Northern Ireland by Rural Community Network.

The campaign will be supported by a national expert panel, plus a new Village SOS website and will begin with a three-month research project to identify good practice and case studies from the first phase of the Village SOS campaign, launched in 2010, which saw 161 innovative village projects come to fruition.
 
The research will assess the demand for support for new enterprises and map what is available across the UK so that projects are directed to the best sources of advice and funding. It will include an online survey of a wide range of organisations to find out who might get involved in community enterprises - from parish councils and schools to broadband campaigners and social groups, such as Young Farmers and the WI. 

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500572
Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Twitter: @biglotteryfund #biglf
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to editors

• Village SOS has to date awarded over £10 million in funding to 161 innovative village community projects It featured on a prime time BBC television show, Village SOS, which followed six village projects which each received around £400,000 to vitalise their communities. The online community www.villagesos.org.uk has a membership representing over 4,000 villages across the UK, connecting people to the advice, support and guidance they need.
• The new campaign will commence in June 2014 for a period of up to 24 months, with a potential maximum of up to £1.49 million.
• Other social enterprise initiatives from Big Lottery Fund include Power to Change in England
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.
• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was returned to the Good Causes.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £31 billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.