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</head><body><p>This something that has aggravated us for a long time - being in an area with a population under 2,000 - less than the population of two or three streets in London. It's especially annoying when you realize that the reasons they use this method are a mixture of laziness/cost cutting (in properly reviewing and judging applications on their merits against objective criteria), and the fact that what the promoter really wants is publicity for themselves and their company, and they don't care really who gets the grants - so they want the winners to be those who can bring the highest level of interaction from the public and afterwards get them the greatest kudos for their grant.</p><p>As it happens I have recently been in conversation with Aviva on this very point, and their stance is that it is a fair system because </p><ul><li>you can always apply for a grant in the very low award category (sub £1000) where the winners tend to get only 500-1500 votes<br></li><li>who wins is more down to who can create the most 'virally successful' video for Facebook etc (regardless of the merit of their project</li></ul><p>I think the latter point tells it all - they are more interested in more people knowing about their awards than in giving the awards to the most effective/deserving causes. And of course some projects will have the luck to have a person and/or topic that lends itself to viral marketing, others (notably for the isolated and elderly) will not.<br></p><p>And even if one puts in the same effort to Facebook marketing etc, which they seem to want entrants to rely on, that can simply magnify the disparate population effects (200 people in a village may well have 2,000 'friends and relatives' online, but then by the same token 2,000 people in a town would probably have 20,000).<br></p><p>I took the trouble to look through last year's Aviva awards, and there was not a single one from the Highland Council area (which is almost the size of Belgium!), and the awards to smaller and remote communities elsewhere in the UK were almost all sub-£1000. Of course, maybe all would-be Highland applicants looked at the judging arrangements and concluded they had no chance of a win, and didn't bother to enter.<br></p><p>Funds like this work against remote communities who may well have the greatest need for the professed aims of a fund. Tesco is an example - they have community grants that end up requiring people to vote for a few finalists in their local superstore. Our 'local' Tesco Extra is 72 miles away in a town of getting on for 100,000 people, so what chance does a project for a region of 3,000 people 72 miles away have of making it to the top three (even though those in the community who use supermarkets do use that one).  <br></p><p>It's a lazy, self-serving way to organize a community grant process - good luck to those for whom it works. Thankfully there are still other companies and funds who judge applications on their genuine merits and core activities, not just their social networking acumen! <br></p><p>Alex<br></p><p><br></p><blockquote type="cite">On 30 September 2016 at 12:59 Martin Steers <martin@martinsteers.co.uk> wrote:<br><br><div dir="ltr">Nick,<div><br></div><div>My challenge to you is instead of fighting against the system that wont change (as its their grant to do with as they please).. be creative to find a solutiion that works..</div><div><br></div><div>So here is a call to the list.. who has entered and WON one of these "who ever gets the most votes win" grants.. what did you do? lets develop some best practice and ideas..</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="ox-5d5d7f59af-gmail_extra"><br><div class="ox-5d5d7f59af-gmail_quote">On 30 September 2016 at 10:06, Canalside's The Thread <<a href="mailto:office@thethread.org.uk" target="_blank">office@thethread.org.uk</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote><div><div class="ox-5d5d7f59af-m_-1808165589654730871WordSection1"><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">By the way<u></u><u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">You may recall a similar discussion to this one (re:-aviva) about 18 months ago … so we are on regurgitation again and ground hog day … but as a reminder we were discussing this and one lady was shouting off about how good this system was and they had applied for something and they were cock-sure they would get it a I/We were fools not to do it. There was a sign off on the e-mail that they would let us know how much £££E they’d receive and votes etc etc<u></u><u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">Er ?     still waiting ?               I think it went bon voyage with the pie in the sky and the flying pigs<u></u><u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">The point I make is that unless you have a huge listenership who are only half paying attention and watch X Factor on a Saturday night, if smaller community groups are nominated                  Scouts/Brass Bands/Childrens activities/Toddlers groups    etc etc     you haven’t a cat in hells chance. It’s not just friends and family etc who decide ------ it’s the public sympathy vote and the nicey nicey …………..the word COMMUNITY goes out the window as all they see is RADIO and they think we’re Heart / Kiss / Capital / BBC / Commercial    etc                   so I state again, these applications are pointless and as frustrating and irritating as my e-mails   <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><u></u><u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">Onwards and Upwards and Backwards and Sideways<u></u><u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">Regards<u></u><u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="ox-5d5d7f59af-MsoNormal">Nick Humpty Numpty                        <wbr/>  whatever happens – keep smilin’  <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><u></u><u></u></p></div></div><br>______________________________<wbr/>_________________<br> <br> Reply - <a href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l@commedia.org.uk</a><br> <br> The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - <a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk</a><br> Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/community_<wbr/>media</a><br> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/<wbr/>CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br> Canstream Internet Radio & Video: <a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br> ______________________________<wbr/>_________________<br> <br> Mailing list guidelines: <a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/<wbr/>about/cma-email-lists/email-<wbr/>list-guidelines/</a><br> ______________________________<wbr/>_________________<br> <br> To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<br> <a href="http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l" target="_blank">http://mailman.commedia.org.<wbr/>uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</a><br></blockquote></div><br></div>_______________________________________________<br><br>Reply - cma-l@commedia.org.uk<br><br>The cma-l mailing list is a members' service provided by the Community Media Association - http://www.commedia.org.uk<br>Twitter: http://twitter.com/community_media<br>http://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation<br>Canstream Internet Radio & Video: http://www.canstream.co.uk/<br>_______________________________________________<br><br>Mailing list guidelines: http://www.commedia.org.uk/about/cma-email-lists/email-list-guidelines/<br>_______________________________________________<br><br>To unsubscribe or manage your CMA-L mailing list subscription please visit:<br>http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l</blockquote></body></html>