Big Lottery Fund Opportunities

03 June 2010

Big Lottery Fund has launched a new funding programme in Northern Ireland; Energy Efficient Venues.

Building on the success of previous programmes, Big Lottery Fund will make grants of between £2,000 - £10,000 and £15,000 - £50,000 to voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland who want to make their community venue more energy efficient. As well as having a positive impact on the environment, this programme will help voluntary and community organisations make savings on their recurring heating and lighting costs.

A budget of around £5million for projects in Northern Ireland is available and it is anticipated that the programme will be open for around two years.

Further information and application packs for the Energy Efficient Venues programme are available from the Big Lottery Fund website or by calling the Information and Events Team on 028 9055 1455.


Healthy Minds NI
A further Lottery fund initiative is Healthy Minds NI - a programme to improve the mental health and well-being of local people.

Grants of between £500 and £10,000 are now available to groups across Northern Ireland to fund activities to support

•isolated older people
•adults with mental health issues
•families affected by alcohol, and
•people affected by life changes such as bereavement.
Activities that could be funded include activity classes for older people in nursing and care homes, alternative therapy sessions to support people with mental illness or addiction problems or physical activity programmes for people with disabilities.

Healthy Minds NI programme was launched at Bangor Carnegie Library on Tuesday 23 March. The event was organised in partnership with the BBC's Headroom NI mental health campaign and Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme was broadcast live from the library to launch the BBC campaign.

Anticipated closing date is 23 March 2011. For further information log onto the Big Lottery Fund website