Big Lottery Fund awards £50m of grants
3 March 2009
The Big Lottery Fund's Building and Sustaining
Infrastructure Support (BASIS) programme has given out grants worth
a total of £50 million to 119 charitable organisations, it
announced today.
Funding was awarded to many third sector organisations including
the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), the Social
Enterprise Coalition, Campaign for Learning, the Social Enterprise
Coalition and the Minority Ethnic Network.
Chair of the Big Lottery Fund's England committee Sanjay Dighe
commented: "This funding will be critical in helping the sector
cope with the strains of the economic downturn. The BASIS awards
will strengthen the sector through a wide range of partnerships to
provide expert, consistent and sustainable services."
NCVO chief executive officer Stuart Etherington welcomed the
grants and the infrastructure support they will allow.
The largest sum, £749,500, will aid the NCVO's Value of
Infrastructure programme, a project delivered in conjunction with
the Third Sector Research Centre and Triangle Consulting.
According to its website, Big Lottery Fund has so far given out
£2.7 billion of funding "for good causes", encouraging fairness,
equality, diversity and innovation in the sector.
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