Applying to the Big Lottery Fund Reaching Communities programme and carrying out a community consultation.
What does your group do?
Worsbrough Common Community Association (WCCA) was set up in 2000 to bring about a better quality of life to the community. Worsbrough Common is in the top 4% on the index of deprivation and the area suffers greatly from antisocial behaviour, street crime, vandalism, graffiti etc. A group of local people decided that it was time to take action against what was happening and set up WCCA. We aim to provide children and young people with activities and equipment in an attempt to keep them off the streets, to provide a better quality of life to our elderly community and also to motivate families to have pride in the area and get involved in their community.
What did you need the funding for and how did you involve local people?
Following a community consultation in 2005, the main priorities were identified for the area, two of which were providing activities for children and young people and improving the environment and leisure facilities. WCCA decided that the best way to ensure that the needs of the local people were met was to consult with the people that it most concerned i.e. the people who were committing the crimes; young people on the streets. Their response was that they had nowhere to go and wanted somewhere of their own to meet up. We looked at options that were suggested by the young people; skate park, bmx track and a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) and further consulted with the Youth Service, local schools, and other young people to see which option would best suit them. It was decided that a MUGA would provide the best all round solution. The Pioneer Areas Community Participation Worker helped and guided us through this process.
We then consulted with the Parks and Recreation department of the council to see if an area of recreation land would be a suitable site. We then negotiated the lease of the land at a peppercorn rent for 25 years.
Consultation then followed with Police, councillors, local businesses and local residents to ensure that we had their backing, particularly local residents around the proposed site. We had 100% backing so then went into schools with a questionnaire for the children and young people to fill in. Following this it was decided to make it a much bigger project and include a children’s play area as well as a MUGA so that the area would benefit children of all ages.
How long did community consultation take?
This process took two group members 12 months to complete, prior to even thinking about applying for funding, but was a vital part as we wanted to ensure that we had the necessary backing for the project and that it would be well used by local children. We had learned through previous experience that funders need to see that consultation has been carried out.
How did you decide who to apply to?
At this stage SYFAB employed a new funding advice worker for Worsbrough (Tracy Charlesworth) who advised us to think about splitting the project between two funders, the Big Lottery Fund Reaching Communities and Waste Recycling Environmental Limited (WREN). We finalised the location of the site and arranged for the relevant people to come out and give us quotes. We also involved the Parks and Recreation Department from the Council who stayed involved throughout the whole process. Then we proceeded with the outline proposal to Reaching Communities.
How long did the application process take?
Completing the outline proposal took quite some time, as this was the first major funding application that we had completed as a group. We met with the SYFAB worker on a number of occasions for guidance and she made suggestions as to how we might improve the application. This took 6 sessions for us to work up the outline proposal but felt that the work put in at this stage helped us greatly with the main application. After approximately 2 weeks we received a reply back from Reaching Communities to say that our project could possibly be funded and received the 26-page main application form.
We were a little bit daunted by the size of the form but were assured by the SYFAB worker that we had done much of the legwork needed so began to fill in the form in small stages i.e. 2 or 3 questions at a time. We felt that breaking it down into smaller chunks helped us to get our heads round it.
At this point we realised that we didn’t have a business plan so also had to work in arranging this as it was a requirement of Reaching Communities.
The main application took around a month of intensive work with the SYFAB worker and development worker and during this time we did further work which included gathering other evidence of need, requesting letters of support from local businesses, councillors, area forum officers, sports development worker, youth service, police etc. We also took photographs of the existing site to send with the application. During this process we were notified by WREN that we had been successful with our application for the children’s play area and awarded £20,000 towards it dependent upon the outcome of the lottery application. This really motivated us as we were beginning to think that the work was never ending.
We worked quite intensively on the outcomes for the project and ensured that we could prove all the outcomes by requesting involvement from various local organisations such as the police (e.g. we included current crime statistics with the applications and will report on how they have improved at the end of the project) and the sports development worker (e.g. we asked for a report of current activity levels and use of the area at the current time so that we can monitor user numbers and increases in physical activity at different stages in the first year).
Was there anything else you had to include in the application?
As we got closer to finishing the application we realised that as it was a capital project, we would also need to send in further information in the form of the capital checklist (details about the land or buildings we intended to work on). This put us back by a further week but we managed to complete the checklist and submit the application, which by this time was a package 3 inches thick with all the supporting information, consultations and business plan.
How long did it take to get a decision?
The application was submitted in the first week of May and we received a letter a week later stating that we had not submitted bank statements. We had neatly typed a list of enclosures and numbered them all and forgotten to put in the bank statements! We sent these then signed with relief and waited to hear. We were contacted to arrange a telephone interview in June for further information. This took roughly 45 minutes and was really just for clarification of what we had put in the application. We were also asked questions such as why we should get the money rather than another group.
On August 21 a letter arrived telling us that we had been successful and would be granted the full amount that we had asked for: £42,923.
What other information does the funder want from you?
Throughout the first year of the project we need to thoroughly monitor user numbers, increases in physical activity and improvement in vandalism and crime in the area.
Why do you think the application was successful?
We think that the application was a success through sheer determination, commitment and a lot of hard work and the input received from Worsbrough workers. Volunteers put in almost full-time hours on the project to ensure that it was a success and it just goes to show that volunteers can get results when they are prepared to put in the time and commitment.
We asked Tracy Charlesworth, SYFAB’s Worsbrough Development Worker, and the Operations Team at the Big Lottery Fund to talk about WCCA’s application and what advice they have for Reaching Communities applicants:
Tracy Charlesworth, SYFAB
Advice for applicants:
- Use the guidelines when completing the application form - they contain important and useful information; for example, on writing outcomes for the project.
- Use local/city wide consultations, statistics and research as evidence of need. These can be included as supporting information.
- Plan a thorough consultation, not only with the beneficiaries but also with others who are likely to be affected by the project, such as local agencies, organisations, businesses, residents, etc – ask for letters of support to send in with the application.
- Forward planning is important. For example, WCCA said in their application that they would set up a maintenance/action group to keep an eye on the equipment and ensure that the site is regularly cleaned and well maintained.
- Check if any extra information is needed with the application, such as a capital checklist, business plan or job descriptions.
- Don’t be put off by the length of the form, tackle a section at a time. If you have planned your project well you should have already done most of the hard work and the form will be much easier to complete.
- Finally, double check your figures to ensure they add up!
