News article

Mistakes to avoid when completing

an Awards for All application form

These are the mistakes that applicants most often

make when filling in an application form.

These will either result in your application being

unsuccessful, or returned to you as incomplete.

Before you do anything else, please read the Guide

for Applicants and the notes in the margin of the

application form. Often an application is returned

because of basic errors that could have been avoided.

How to avoid the most common errors:

XXEnsure that the Main and Senior contact are

different people.

XXMake sure you supply a landline telephone number

for both the Main and Senior contact.

XX Make sure you have at least three unrelated

people on your governing body. If your

organisation is a charity these people must appear

in that capacity on the Charity Commission

website. If your organisation is a limited company,

you must have at least three unrelated directors

registered with Companies House.

XX Fill in the £ boxes in question 6, whether it be

for your latest accounts, or for your financial

projection.

XXCheck that your bank account meets our

requirements – question 5

XXRemember to complete the checklist at the end of

the form – part 5

XXYour application should clearly demonstrate how

the project activities are different from what your

group already does – if this is not obvious, your

application may not be successful.

XXMake sure you allow at least a full three months

between applying and the start date of your

project.

Other areas that you should pay

particular attention to include:

1. Sports, Arts, or Heritage based projects

Awards for All will now only pay for arts, sports or

heritage activities where the main purpose of the

project meets one or more of BIG’s four outcomes

listed on page 11 of the guidance notes. We will not

fund applications where the main purpose of the

project/activity is sports, arts or heritage.

Further details are available in this leaflet:

www.awardsforall.org.uk/england/smallgrants.html

2. Project costs – Question 13

Make sure you include all the costs of your project,

including those costs that you are not applying to

Awards for All for. This is important for part B of the

question, as we need you to explain where any extra

funding is coming from if it is not coming from Awards

for All.

3. The need for your project – question 15

Make sure you fully explain the need for your project

and provide evidence to back this up.

Describe the problems/issues you have identified and

explain how your project addresses them.

4. The project’s outcomes – question 17

Outcomes are the changes or differences that your

project can make not the activities or services that

your project actually provides.

For example, organising IT courses for the elderly in

the local area is not an outcome. People feeling more

confident, or making better use of IT equipment

having attended the courses are two possible

outcomes.

And finally

Please remember that if you do not provide all the

information we ask for, it will delay the processing of

your application.

If you cannot provide some of the information we

ask for, this will result in your application being

unsuccessful, so if you are unsure, please call us first –

0845 4 10 20 30