Addressing rumours that the Government is planning to cut the Big Lottery Fund by 48%, David Robinson says that no matter what happens, it must not be used to substitute government funding.
On a late autumn day very like this one 20 years ago the Big Lottery Fund (BLF), or the National Lottery Charities Board (NLCB) as it was then called, was about to make its first round of grants. The Board was advised by seven Regional Advisory Panels (RAPs). I chaired the London RAP. We had a staff of two. They had spent the weekend before our Panel meeting camped in my kitchen with one lumpy laptop and a small mountain of carrier bags full of application forms. It was, it would be fair to say, a rather less sophisticated operation than today's BLF.
The press were lottery mad at the time and the smallest story made the news. Speculation, and subsequent confirmation... Keep reading on The Huffington Post
On a late autumn day very like this one 20 years ago the Big Lottery Fund (BLF), or the National Lottery Charities Board (NLCB) as it was then called, was about to make its first round of grants. The Board was advised by seven Regional Advisory Panels (RAPs). I chaired the London RAP. We had a staff of two. They had spent the weekend before our Panel meeting camped in my kitchen with one lumpy laptop and a small mountain of carrier bags full of application forms. It was, it would be fair to say, a rather less sophisticated operation than today's BLF.
The press were lottery mad at the time and the smallest story made the news. Speculation, and subsequent confirmation... Keep reading on The Huffington Post