[Community Radio] COMMUNITY RADIO FUND - HAVE YOUR SAY

[Bill Best]

++ Apologies for cross-posting ++

Community Radio Fund

Ofcom is about to set up an awards committee to administer the
Community  Radio Fund.  This fund is intended to support the emerging
community  radio sector.  Other countries have similar funds: so you
might like to look at http://www.cbf.com.au and
http://www.bci.ie/pdfs/BCI%20CRSS%20EN.pdf to see how a couple of
others work.

How do you think this should work?  Ideas, please, around the following
considerations.

Given the size of the Fund (£500K) and an informed guess at the number
of possible recipients, grants are likely to be around the £5-20K mark,
or possibly more.  Ideally, this money should support costs that it
would otherwise be difficult to find funding for, which are core to the
operation of a station and lead to its sustainability. For example,
financial administration. Perhaps several stations could club together
and bid for one admin post?

Q1: What sorts of things would you like to see the Fund cover?

Q2: Do you think that stations should be able to put in joint
applications?

Ofcom is a regulator, not a grant giver. The grants programme will need
to be administered by a committee representing a range of interests
and expertise

Q3: What sort of expertise would you like to see on this
committee?

Q4: How independent should this committee be?

Q5: Would you like the CMA to be involved with the grant-making
process?

Grants could be one-offs, or tapered. For example, £20K could be £10K
year 1, £7K Year 2 and £3K year 3.

Q6: Do you think it is a good idea to have tapering grants?

Stations will not be allowed to include this grant in their funding
applications. However, once they have been awarded a licence, they will
be eligible to apply for a grant.

Q7: How long/often/when should the window for applications be
open?

Q8: Should we - as Everitt suggested - demand verified match
for any grant?

Q9: Are there similar grant making models you know about and would
recommend?

Q10: What do you feel about the level of possible grants? Larger grants
would mean fewer successful applicants.

Q11: Any other comments which would inform decisions around the working
of the Community Media Fund?

Q12: Any other comments which should inform Government policy around
the Community Radio Fund?

Replies/ideas to this list by Monday 13th September.

Thank you

Diane

Diane Reid
Director
Community Media Association