Awards for All

Awards for All is a Lottery grants scheme for local communities.

Awards for All in England is supported by the Arts Council England, The Big Lottery Fund, The Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England.

These Top Tips aim to provide you with key information to help you when completing an Awards for All application form.

You can jump directly to the main topics on this page by clicking the links below:

> grants of between £300 and £10,000
> rejections
> governing documentation
> annual accounts
> signatures
> bank form
> bank statements
> incomplete applications
> checklist before submission
> further information and useful contacts
> download PDF version

grants of between £300 and £10,000

• Groups that have never applied for Awards for All money can apply for up to £10,000.
• Groups that have had a grant within the last two years will need to subtract the amount they previously received from the £10,000 available, and the remaining figure is the amount they can apply for. For example, if your group received £5000 from Awards for All in June 2006, the maximum that your group can apply for until June 2008 is a further £5000 – a total of £10,000 in the last two years.

rejections

The main reason why applications are rejected:

• The application requests funding for items or activities that Awards for All does not cover – read pages 3 and 4 of the guidance notes carefully to check that what you are planning to do fits the programme.

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governing documentation

This is normally your Constitution, Memorandum and Articles of Association or Set of Rules. This document states what you do, how you operate and who's involved. Check and make sure that:

• your objectives allow you to deliver the project
• your group’s name is written the same on the application form and your bank statement at least one member of your management committee has signed and dated the constitution on the date your group was formed
• you have a dissolution clause that states that if you cease operating, your assets will be given to another charitable organisation with similar objectives
• the document describes how people join your club or organisation. Membership clauses that state those seeking membership have to be proposed or seconded, or which give the management committee discretion in refusing membership without an explanation or right of appeal, are not acceptable and will be rejected.

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annual accounts

This is your statement of income and expenditure for the previous accounting period.

• have you been established for less than one year?

You should provide projections of your estimated income and expenditure for a 12-month period from the month you expect to receive the grant. This can cover just the Awards for All grant, if that is your only planned activity over the 12-month period. Alternatively, if you are planning additional activities, then these should also feature in the projections.

• have you been established for more than 12 months?

You have two options. If you have not produced accounts for the last period:

1. produce a set of accounts for the previous financial year and submit it with your application
2. write a covering letter to Awards for All, explaining why you have not produced accounts for the previous period. Provide projections of your estimated income and expenditure for a 12-month period from the month you expect to receive the grant.

If your group has high reserves or operated at a deficit in the last 12 months, explain why this happened, and also your plans for the future.

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signatures

Awards for All requires up to four (five if you are a company) different people to sign the application form:

• main contact (page 1)

This should be the person who knows the most about your project and is best placed to answer any questions asked by a grants officer.

• senior contact (pages 9 and 16)

This can be the chairperson, treasurer, secretary, director or chief executive. This person must not be the same person as on page 1.

• referee (page 8)

Your referee must be a person with a professional or public position listed in the Awards for All guidance notes. He or she must be completely independent of your organisation, but know its work well and know about the project for which you are requesting funds. Think of it as being similar to a passport application referee.

• Sports development officers and officers from national governing bodies are acceptable referees. If your project involves young people or vulnerable adults, then your referee will need to be either a police officer, schoolteacher, youth worker or healthcare professional. Please refer to the guidance and examples of suitable referees on pages 14 and 15 of the Awards for All guidance notes for additional information, and before selecting your referee.
• Your referee may be approached to discuss your application or be asked to write a report, so make sure you use someone who is reliable and who will respond promptly.
• bank official (bank form)

The bank official must sign, date and stamp the bank form.

• second senior contact companies only (pages 9 and 16)

This must be a director of your company. This is because the contract is not legally valid without the signature of a director of the company. This person must not be the same person as on page 1, or the senior contact on page 9 or 16.

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bank form

• The bank form provides Awards for All with confirmation that you have an active bank account and that the way the account is operated meets the Awards for All criteria, including that two unrelated people are required to sign each cheque withdrawal. It is essential that you complete all of the questions on the form and get the right people to sign.
• The people that sign cheques on your account must complete their details and sign in the appropriate box. It is good practice that at least one of these people is a senior officer in your organisation (ie committee member or director).
• The form must be signed by your bank manager or senior bank official.
• Make sure the bank uses its official bank/building society stamp in the appropriate box. The bank should also record the bank/building society address, if it is not on their official stamp.

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bank statements

• You need to send original bank statements covering a period of three months for your club or organisation. The most recent of these must not be more than three months old. You should also send photocopies of these, which Awards for All will keep on file.
• If your club or organisation uses a passbook account, you need to send photocopies of the pages of the passbook that show the account name and number, as well as the last three months’ transactions. You need to ask the building society to stamp and sign all the photocopied sheets as ‘true copies of the original’. If your club or organisation uses an Internet account, you need to send printouts of the last three months’ transactions.
• If you are a new group and do not have three months’ worth of bank statements, you should send all the statements you have and the letter you received when you opened the account.
• If your bank statements show any of the following, you should provide an explanation in your covering letter:
• bank charges for unauthorised overdrafts
• a long period with no money going into the account
• ATM withdrawals (as these normally only require one person to withdraw funds)
• a high balance
• transfers to other accounts using telephone banking or the Internet
• deficits.

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incomplete applications

The majority of applications received by Awards for All have essential information missing.

The most common omissions are:

• missing or unacceptable bank statements
• missing or unacceptable accounts
• missing dates of birth of contacts
• unsuitable referees.

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checklist before submission

• Make sure you have answered all the questions on the Awards for All application form.
• Go through and make sure you are able to tick off everything that is required of your club or organisation on the checklist on page 17 of the application form.
• Make sure you get someone to check your application before it is submitted and use the information within these Top Tips as your final checklist.

further information and useful contacts

Awards for All helpline: 0845-600 2040

Awards for All website: www.awardsforall.org.uk
Awards for All guidance notes (visit the Awards for All website)

Child Protection guidance published by NSPCC: ‘Stopcheck’ (www.nspcc.org.uk)

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