This year marks a quarter of a century since the National Lottery launched in the UK. During this time, 535,000 individual projects have been funded using more than £39 billion gathered from lottery ticket sales.

On average, 190 projects per postcode district have received National Lottery funding. In the past year, 40% of those projects were related to health, education, environment and charitable causes. Funding allocations are made by a panel of 12 organisations, specially chosen by Parliament.

To celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the first UK lottery draw, which took place on 19 November 1994, the National Lottery Heritage Fund is encouraging projects and attractions helped by its grants to say #ThankYou on social media from 23 November – 1 December 2019.

Voscur has received funding to support the Social Enterprise Feasibility Study carried out by the Sexual Violence Support Consortium. This study set out to determine if there was a model for paid counselling that survivors of sexual violence could access in Avon and Somerset.

Voscur members who have received National Lottery funding include:

• APE Project CIC – for St. Paul’s Adventure Playground.
• Bristol Playbus – for weekly play sessions for children in Lawrence Hill.
• Centre for Sustainable Energy – for volunteer support and outreach in Southville.
• Integrate UK – for activities and events targeting BAME communities, to promote integration and equality in Bristol.
• Malcolm X Elders Forum at Malcolm X Centre – for kitchen facilities and to provide singing sessions for older people in Ashley.
• North Bristol Advice Centre – for a weekly IT drop-in session which improves people’s digital skills and financial situation in North Bristol.

Grants, awarded by the National Lottery Community Fund, are divided by size: those from £300 - £10,000 are given through Awards For All, with separate strands for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; grants of more than £10,000 for community issues are given through Reaching Communities England. Partnership working grants of more than £10,000 are also awarded through the Partnerships fund (for advice on collaboration and partnership working, please contact Voscur).

There’s also the National Lottery Awards, which highlights the best projects or organisations that use or have used National Lottery funding. Finalists for 2019 will be announced soon.

Here’s to 25 years of the National Lottery, and to many more years of charitable project funding ahead.