[cma-l] Awards for All

[Office - ccr-fm]

Dear All

Julian mentions something here that has been an irritation for me for 5
years. (yep / another one of my bug bears)

A4A ............ everyone keeps talking about 'new programmes' or 'new
ventures' .............. we applied for a grant a number of years ago which
was for a new training venture for media / radio and opening up a radio
internet station for youngsters. It never got off the ground due to lack of
funding because A4A stated that it wasn't a new venture/project and is was
ongoing from what we already did.

OF COURSE IT IS ............ we are a radio station and we run community
projects related to our remit ........     what are we supposed to do, run a
football course or an orienteering project in order that we attract 'new
funding ?'

Project <> New to who ??       no project is new to us as it is always going
to be related to 'radio / media'    young people / people with disabilities
/ elderly people ................. we have been knocked back twice, with the
same explanation / er --- excuse each time ............ How the hell can you
not give us funding for a project that you say isn't new, when you never
gave us any funding for it when it was new. As I have said 'NEW TO WHO??'
........ it will always be new to the 11/12 year olds who join the course,
as they become 13/14 year olds and then 'NEW' students/participants who were
9/10 last year and are now 11/12 this year .................   at the end of
the day, which ever way you look at it ........ NO PROJECTS ANYWHERE IN THE
COUNTRY ARE NEW ........... they are ALL technically ''ongoing !''
however, projects within ongoing projects are new to people who have
recently joined.

I'm afraid to say it is YET ANOTHER diabolical bureacratic nonsense that
this Country (who I was once proud of) is a wash with and there doesn't seem
to be anyone / anywhere who is ever going to sort it out.

Mr Camerons big society will never be a big society untill people are
treated equally. I also think that it is an excuse to get millions of people
volunteering ...... which ain't a bad thing .... however, under this façade
they won't actually / technically be volunteering ..... they'll be working
for nowt' !

As Jim Royle say's '' Big Society my ar .................se'' !

Let me roll you back ONCE AGAIN to my theory. My theory has been constant,
it has been consistent and it will NEVER CHANGE. If there is a fund, and the
fund is £100 and there are 100 projects applying for it ...... as long as
the projects can prove that what they do is not-for-profit and primarily
serves the community ..... in otherwords ... it ain't a money making racket,
then each one of them gets a quid !

No long drawn out pointless applications that destroy peoples souls, kill
off volunteers, frustrate and irritate people ...... just a plain old simple
quids !            however, if you have got 25,000 (QUIDS)    guaranteed
.... then that's a different story, and the people that you have in your
organisation can now get on with what they are supposed to be doing.

Why is Awards for All called Awards for All ????         surely, it should
be called Awards for some who aren't doing ongoing projects !         in
fact, if there is NO money for ongoing projects, you might as well shut 95%
of them down ...... as 95% are ongoing .... unless of course they keep
getting rejected for funding ......... then they AIN'T GOING ANYWHERE !

Just a thought guys that's all. I'm not being negative ... honestly ... I am
merely getting into and remaining in the real world, which sadly is not a
particularly nice place to be at the moment.

Regards to all,     er ..... not some -- BUT ALL !

Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk
[mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Mellor
Sent: 25 November 2010 11:35
To: CMA-L
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Awards for All

Be warned that A4A are getting quite picky.

In June we put in an application to start a new programme of outreach  
training.  In itself the application made a good case for funding.   
But A4A visited our website - some parts of which were a) out of date  
b) not very clear and c) more presented what we'd like to be doing  
rather than what we were actually doing.  But they took the website at  
face value and then rejected our application because, they said, our  
website showed we were already doing the training that we were seeking  
funding for - and they stressed that there was no appeal.

So make sure that all your publicly available info supports what  
you're asking money for!

Julian


On 25 Nov 2010, at 11:16, CMA-L wrote:

> The Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme can fund
> not-for-profit and community groups, schools, health organisations and
> parish and town councils.
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