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Public has BIG ideas to move Millennium forward

1 Nov 2011 01:00 PM

The public has told the BIG Lottery Fund where it should be investing its £10 million Millennium Now funding.

In a poll conducted by Ipsos MORI and Channel 4’s Big Decision website thousands of people across the UK have set out their views on what is needed right now to make lives better for the future. In response the BIG Lottery Fund has yesterday opened its nationwide search for five creative and inspirational projects.

More than 350 comments were submitted and combined with the results of an Ipsos MORI poll, conducted with 2,000 people from across the nation, to help decide the five distinct project types Millennium Now will fund.

Among the main concerns that featured high on the public’s agenda were improving health and nutrition, more education opportunities and improving employment prospects. ‘Susie ok’ suggested: “Spend it on educating people to eat healthily and to tie up the link between food choice and ill health,” while ‘Alison Card’ thought that: “More money should be put into resources for training for our current young people to create jobs, they are our future.”

Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, Peter Ainsworth, said: “While this programme builds on BIG’s long standing commitment to public involvement in grant making, it is unlike anything that BIG has delivered before. This is the first time that we asked the general public to help us design and develop a grant programme by choosing the themes that best represent the needs and aspirations of today.

“We’re really pleased with the level of participation by the public and we’d like to thank those who took part in helping us to shape this programme. We are now looking forward to making those aspirations a reality and working with Channel 4 to capture the growth of this exciting programme from beginning to end.”

Millennium Now will make five grants, one under each project type, of between £1,500,000 and £2,000,000 for projects running over two years.

The journeys of the five projects that receive funding will be filmed by Channel 4 for a new television series due to air in late 2012. Organisations that are thinking of applying will need to show willingness to be filmed throughout the development of their project as this is a key requirement of the programme.

About the Millennium Now programme:

Applications must specifically address one of the Millennium Now project types and meet all three of the following outcomes:

  • Creating stronger connections between people and communities
  • Developing creative projects that have UK-wide relevance
  • Communities are involved in designing and delivering projects

The five Millenium Now project types are:

   1. Helping disadvantaged families to be healthy and live well.

BIG is looking for projects that focus on enabling parents to help their families make more informed lifestyle choices, through practical learning about food, nutrition, play and exercise. This will improve their parenting skills and the health and well being of their children.

   2. Helping different generations to share their skills with each other

BIG is interested in projects that will create new or stronger links between older and younger people, by providing opportunities for them to share their skills, knowledge and experience. This will enable both groups to develop a wider range of interests, which may lead to reduced isolation, improved social lives and better employment opportunities.

   3. Getting communities volunteering to address environmental issues  

BIG would like to support environmental projects that will help reduce the isolation experienced by people with disabilities, special educational needs or mental health problems. By taking part in green activities such as recycling, growing or conservation work, these people will have more opportunities to be involved in the wider community.

   4. Bringing communities together to tackle local issues

BIG wants to fund projects that will bring together different cultural groups through new activities that help to break down barriers and tackle issues or problems that affect them. This will lead to stronger and more active communities with shared interests and greater understanding.

   5. Helping disadvantaged young people to learn new career-based skills

BIG is looking for projects that will help 16-25 year olds who have had problems in their lives gain work, training or education opportunities. Young people who have experienced homelessness, gang involvement, substance abuse, physical or mental trauma, will be supported by local businesses to improve their life chances.

Projects must attend a briefing event in order to apply.

For full programme information and how to apply visit: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/mnow

About Channel 4 series The Big Decision:

The Big Decision (w/t) TX 2012

If you could change the world you live in what would you do? How would you spend £10million pounds of Lottery money? In a major new five-part series, The Big Decision reveals what people care about most - and the impact that substantial grants have on the charities that do the work.

From asking the public where they think the money should go through to the distribution of funds, this series gets to the heart of what people really care about and what that means for our society.

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to Editors

  • The responsibilities of the Millennium Commission were transferred to the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) in 2006.
  • The Millennium Commission was set up in 1993 by the National Lottery Act as a short-life organisation, with a specific aim: to fund projects to celebrate the end of the second millennium and the start of the third.
  • This is the first time BIG is asking the public to effectively help design and develop a grant programme from choosing the programme themes to the types of projects and beneficiaries they want funded. Through BIG’s other public engagement programmes and initiatives the public was asked to choose between specific projects.
  • The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
  • BIG 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 June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
  • Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £26 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.