Page 18 - NAS Members Guide to Funding

tle for a page here
a plant sale!”With flexible, planning and a combination feeds water to plots to keep plants healthy and thriving.
of donation, grant funding, and income generation from Apart from maintaining the borehole pump, the society
open days, the association is bringing its idea to life in a pays nothing for water! The society’s idea came to life
sustainable and environmentally minded fashion. Many because they made a firm plan, found a suitable funder water companies in the UK have grant funding trusts, (and accepted additional T&Cs), and were able to contact your local water company for further information. regroup and think creatively to solve a shortfall problem.
ould be overview text relating to the n
CASE STUDY: “A new sustainable water supply The National Lottery
for Alwoodley Allotment Society near Leeds”
A relatively new allotment which opened in 2016, Alwoodley Allotments had no mains water supply. The 80+ plotholders were relying on water harvesting.
After a particularly dry year of little rain, the society decided to install a groundwater pump to extract
water from the ground below the allotment site, to use for irrigation. The estimated budget for the borehole plan was £13,000. Funding was applied for from Aviva Community Fund, part of the Aviva insurance company. An important part of this funder’s additionalT&Cs involves applicants recommending the company to a number of friends and family. There was also a Public Vote for the best community project, this involved agreeing to put information about the allotment site and its community online.
The funding application was successful and the society also won the Judges Prize. But the amount of money awarded was not the full amount applied for. This meant there was a shortfall in the budget. The society had
to find extra funds to top up the shortfall. The society reconsidered its budget and came up with a Plan B. Under Plan B, plotholders were asked to voluntarily pay an extra £10 on top of their rent for two years, 70% of plotholders voluntarily paid this amount. This additional income helped to top-up the outstanding balance, but still not to the full amount needed. A little more was still required, so the members went back to the budget and committed to using a small amount of the society’s own reserves to top-up the funds to the £13,000 total required. With all the necessary money secured, the society went ahead with its idea and a borehole now
This is public money generated by lottery ticket sales. The National Lottery is a non-departmental public body governed by a Board which distributes grant funding independent of central government. Money
is distributed across grant funding programmes in arts, sport, heritage, charity, voluntary, health, education and environment. Depending on what your association’s plan is, you may be eligible to apply to several of these grant funding programmes.
The lottery funding programme which allotment associations have had the most success with is “Awards for All”. This fund has awarded funding for infrastructure on new allotment sites and for improvements to existing allotment sites. Applicants can apply for between
£300 - £20,000. Awards for All is a long-standing fund which has a simple application form and clear criteria along with a set period for notifying applicants of the outcome. The fund is managed and operated separately in each of England, Scotland, Wales, so ensure you go
to the correct website. Allotment site infrastructure improvements which have been funded by Awards for All include the following: installing toilets, paths, water systems (including boreholes), fencing panels, alternative energy (e.g. solar panels). It is also worth knowing
that another lottery funding programme, the “Heritage Fund”, considers heritage to include “works to improve habitats or conserve species, as well as helping people to connect to nature in their daily lives” and is not just about buildings and histories.
The focus and criteria of National Lottery funding programmes change periodically, however, there is a
i
we