Transition Fund

Transition Fund

Big Lottery Fund in England

What’s it all about?

Civil society organisations, which deliver high quality public services,

are more resilient, agile and able to take opportunities

presented by a changing funding environment

Who can apply?You must be one of the following organisations:

a registered charity a voluntary and community unincorporated

charitable association a community benefit society registered as an

industrial and provident society a community interest company an organisation of another type if you operate as a

social enterprise and principally reinvest your surpluses for social benefit

Which public services?

health and social care homelessness education and training welfare to work/employment services children and families debt counselling and legal advice offender rehabilitation

Financial criteria

• You have approved annual accounts, no more than 12 months old • Your total income for that year was between £50,000 and £10

million• At least 60% of total income came from taxpayer-funded sources• At least 50% of total income spent delivering the public services• You have evidence, or significant reason to believe, that you will

experience a reduction of at least 30% of the taxpayer-funded income you receive for the public services

• Your free reserves could pay for your organisation’s total expenditure for no more than six months

Grant Size

Grants between £12,500 and £500,000 You can apply for up to 50% of the reduction in taxpayer-funded

income Mainly revenue funding - up to £5,000 of capital For activities that focus on the change and transition needed to lead

to the programme outcome:

Civil society organisations, which deliver high quality public services, are more resilient, agile and able to take opportunities presented by a changing funding environment

Example

At least 50% of total income spent on the

public services

At least 60% of total income from taxpayer-

funded sources

At least 30% loss in taxpayer-funded

income spent on public services

Max Grant is 50% of the loss in taxpayer funded income spent on public

services

£500k£600k

£150k

£75k

What will it pay for?

The majority of activities should be change activities and could include for example:

developing and redesigning existing and new services restructuring or moving to a different business model, including

redundancy costs where necessary the costs associated with moving services to or from other

organisations the costs of developing new partnerships, alliances, mergers

and/or shared services staff training getting expert advice and support.

Assessment

Reduction

Total income

Free reserves

What you should tell us

NeedWhy you need transition fundingThe impact on your end users of the public services you provideWhat your future market looks like

OutcomeHow your organisation will meet the programme outcomeYour vision of how your organisation will look after the transition

Making a successful transitionHow will you make a successful transitionRelevant skills and experienceThe services offered during and after your transition Notify us of any de minimis State Aid received in the previous three financial years

Example

• Organisation Y is heavily dependent on public sector funding and has been warned it faces significant reductions in that funding

• Without public sector funding the organisation is no longer sustainable in its current structure

• However, it knows there will be opportunities in the future and the public services it delivers are of a high quality

• It wants to develop more diverse income streams and become a viable social enterprise

ExampleTransition Fund could fund:• Creating a business plan to develop partnerships and secure funding • Redundancy costs • Staff training to ensure the organisation had the right skills to complete a

successful transition• Advice and training to develop new reporting and monitoring processes to

better evidence impact

Transition Fund cannot:• Pay for staff salaries to continue to deliver existing services and reduce

the need for redundancies• Replace lost income from public bodies until new opportunities may be

available

Timescales

If you’re successful

• Separate bank account (except a registered charity)

• Awards made between March and May 2011

• You may need to send us more information

E.g. firmer evidence of reductions in taxpayer-funded

income if you were unable to in January

• You must spend the grant and send report by end

March 2012

Next steps

• Take a look at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/transitionfund

• We will update questions and answers after the events• Use the eligibility checklist on the website to ensure

this is the right programme for you• Send us your application before noon on 21 January

2011• Ensure you send us all the supporting information• Please complete a feedback form today – and use it to

let us know whether you are likely to apply