BIG LOTTERY FUND

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Programme Outline
Local Food
Tim Belcher Regional Coordinator
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Brief facts and figures

• Awarded 50m
• Open for business 17 March 2008
• Applicants must be not for profit
• Open to new and existing projects
• Will run to December 2014 (projects have to
  finish by March 2014)
• Estimate more than 1,100 projects will be awarded
  funding
• Projects can be up to five years in length

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Local Food has adopted the same consortium
approach as SEED and CRED (previous Lottery
programmes)
How has local food been set up?
RSWT lead partner
Black Environment Network BTCV Community
Composting Network FareShare Garden
Organic GreenSpace Groundwork Learning through
Landscapes
National Allotment Gardens Trust Permaculture
Association (Britain) Soil Association Sustain Thr
ive Womens Environmental Network Federation of
City Farms and Community Gardens
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What is the aim of local food?
Overarching aim is to make locally grown food
accessible and affordable to local communities
Will achieve main aim through five themes

• Enable communities to manage land sustainably for
  growing food locally
• Enable communities to build knowledge and
  understanding and to celebrate the cultural
  diversity of food
• Stimulate local economic activity and the
  development of community enterprises concerned
  with growing, processing and marketing local food
• Create opportunities for learning and the
  development of skills through voluntary training
  and job creation
• Promote awareness and understanding of the links
  between food and healthy lifestyles

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What types of project can local food fund?

• Allotments
• Box schemes
• Catering (cafes/subsidised meals)
• Celebrating food cultures
• Community food growing projects
• Community seed exchanges
• Community supported agriculture
• Education learning (food related)
• Farmers markets
• Food co-ops
• Recycling of organic waste
• Redistribution of food
• School grounds (education practical)
• Social enterprise

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• What costs can local food fund?

Revenue

• Salaries / Training and volunteer costs
• Vehicle running costs
• Rent / leasing
• Insurance / financial costs

Capital

• Vehicle
• Equipment
• IT Equipment
• Professional fees and labour costs (refurbishment
  / land buildings)

• Local Food will fund Land and Buildings costs
• but more requirements and hoops to jump through

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• What cannot be funded by local food?
• School meals
• Play grounds with no food links
• Sports grounds projects
• School grounds with no food links
• What can local food fund but might also overlap
  with other funding programmes?
• Community gardens
• Community land management
• City farms

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What are the sizes of grants available?
Small Grants - 2,000 to 10,000

• Easier application process
• Internally assessed
• Turnaround time of six weeks (maximum)
• Easier claiming and reporting

Main Grants - 10,001 to 300,000

• More thorough process
• Projects less than 35,000 are internally
  assessed
• Projects more than 35,000 are externally assessed

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Beacon Grants - 300,001 to 500,000
(deadline for 1st stage application June 2008)

• Single competitive round
• Approximately 9m to be ring fenced
• A minimum of 18 projects to be awarded funding
• Expected to be capital-heavy projects or projects
  of a strategic nature (regional, multi-regional,
  national significance)
• Additional assessment criteria to be used
• Externally assessed by super assessors
• More in-depth monitoring and evaluation

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• The application process
• First stage application form
• All grant sizes
• Beacon grants deadline for first stage app
  END JUNE 2008
• Full stage application
• Adviser assigned
• Full stage application form submitted
• Small grants 6 week turnaround, internal panel
• Main grants 20 week turnaround, external panel.
• If grant over 35k, an external assessor will
  visit you
• Beacon grant deadline end of November 2008,
  grants announced March 2009

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Do projects have to secure match funding?
Total Project Costs Total Match
funding Required ( of total project
costs)

• 2,000 - 20,000 nil
• 20,001 100,000 10 per cent
• 100,001 - 300,000 20 per cent
• 300,001- 500,000 30 per cent
• Minimum of 50 per cent matchfunding has to be
  cash, the remainder can be in kind
• REMEMBER TOTAL PROJECT COST NOT GRANT REQUESTED

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Local Food Team Structure
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The Adviser Teams main remit is to provide help
to groups.
Who are the Adviser team?

• More than 170 Advisers spread across England
• (19 in the South East and 13 in London)
• Supported by three Regional Coordinators,
  employed by RSWT
• Central Adviser team at RSWT, part of the Local
  Food team

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The Adviser Team can provide pre- application and
post-award advice to organisations that are
applying to and awarded through, Local Food.
What help can the Adviser Team give?
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How can groups get an Adviser?
Pre application advice

• Can request it in the First Stage Application
  Form
• Can be mandatory, decided by the Local Food
  Grants Officer

Post award advice

• Can request it through submission of an Advice
  Request form
• Can be mandatory, decided by the Local Food
  Grants Officer

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How much advice can a group have?

• Average of 2 days pre-application and 2 days
  post-award advice
• Some may need more, some need less but this will
  be by exception
• Advice could be a visit, a phone call or an email

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A few Adviser Team facts

• Will advise, not assess
• Will not write the application for the group
  need to retain ownership
• Will give fair and impartial advice
• Aim to help more than 70 - 80 of groups
  applying to Local Food

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What makes a good Local Food application?
Needed
Achievable
Well costed
Distinct / Best Practice
Involving
Sustainable
Impact
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How do I get further information?

• To download an application please visit
  www.localfoodgrants.org and register your details
• For all First Stage queries contact the Changing
  Spaces Advice Line on 0845 3 671 671. Hard copies
  of First Stage Application forms and notes can be
  requested.
• FAQs and further information are available on the
  website.

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• Issues arising in 1st stage and Main applications
  weve received so far

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• Current First Stage Application issues.
• Many applicants are not including a minimum of 20
  per cent revenue.
• For Small and Main grants, you can apply for
  up to 80 capital costs, the other 20 has to be
  revenue
• Some applicants are including capital costs under
  revenue and vice versa.
• Refer to Guidance Notes for examples
• In their descriptions, some applicants are
  describing their organisations rather than the
  specific project
• Case officers require relevant information
• Some applicants budget figures are not consistent
• Eg, Total Estimated Project and Grant Requested
  figures must be the same!

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• Current Full Stage Application issues.
• Supporting documentation not supplied
• Be certain of who the beneficiaries of the
  project are
• Need has to be established and evidenced
• Remember that projects are to benefit
  communities
• not Traders
• Some applicants are not putting reference
  numbers, signature and date on each supporting
  document/enclosure
• Any additional information must be labelled with
  the appropriate question number

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Questions?