is a Big Lottery Fund grants scheme funding small, local community-based projects in the UK. It is a simple grants scheme making awards of between £300 and £10,000.

The Awards for All programme aims to help improve local communities and the lives of people most in need. To do this we want to fund projects that meet one or more of the following outcomes:

• People have better chances in life - with better access to training and development to improve their life skills.
• Stronger communities - with more active citizens working together to tackle their problems.
• Improved rural and urban environments - which communities are better able to access and enjoy.
• Healthier and more active people and communities.

 You may be eligible to apply for an Awards for All grant if you can meet one of the criteria mentioned above, and:

• you are a not-for-profit group (including social enterprises), or you are a parish or town council, school or health body.
• you have a bank account that requires at least two unrelated people to sign each cheque or withdrawal.
• you have a governing body with at least three unrelated members
• you can spend the grant within one year.

We constantly monitor our applications in the North West and have identified the following as the most common reject reasons based on the total number of applications we received in the first quarter of the financial year:

• Project does not meet one of the four programme outcomes (see above)
• Insufficient evidence of need
• Excluded items ie asking for things we won’t pay for (see p8 of the Guidance notes)

For further information please visit the Awards for All website www.awardsforall.org.uk. You can chat with our online advisers or call the helpline on 0845 4 10 20 30.