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Application Guidelines
National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
Level of Grant available: £10,000-£100,000
This guidance contains important information about who can apply and how we will assess
your application. It also tells you how long it will take and what happens if we award you a
grant. You should read this information carefully before filling in the application form. The
guidance material is also available on our website.
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/funding/apply/organisations/capital.aspx
Our Help Desk can advise you further if required:
Phone: 0845 603 6000 (local rate)
Typetalk: 18001 0845 603 6000
Fax: 0131 225 9833
E-mail: help.desk@scottisharts.org.uk
The Help Desk is open Monday to Friday from 9am–5pm
This publication is available in large print.
If you need assistance with making your application for reasons of
disability, please contact the Help Desk for advice
Please note: A single closing date of 25 September 2009 has been set for
applications to the Lottery Capital Small Grants Scheme, with a decision by 4
December 2009. This will be the only opportunity to apply for funding via this Capital
Scheme in 2009/10.
Scottish Arts Council
12 Manor Pace
Edinburgh
EH3 7DD
Published by the Scottish Arts Council, July 2009
The information is accurate at the time of publishing but may change.
CONTENTS
Page
1. Introduction 3
2. About applying for grants 3
3. How to apply 7
4. How we will assess your application 8
5. Writing your application 9
6. What happens to your application 15
7. After the decision 16
8. Additional important information 18
Appendices:
Appendix 1: Projects involving other lottery
distributors
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Who we are, our aims and priorities
The Scottish Arts Council is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) which was
established by Royal Charter in 1994 and is also a Lottery distributor. The
organisation serves the people of Scotland by fostering arts of excellence through
investment, development, research and advocacy. Our corporate aims are: to
support artists to fulfil their creative and business potential; to increase participation
in the arts; and to place the arts, culture and creativity at the heart of learning. We
invest £60 million each year, including £15 million of National Lottery funding. For
more information visit: www.scottisharts.org.uk
In 2009/10 our priorities are:
increasing the scope and quality of our support to artists
securing the foundation of Scotland’s artistic development
creating flexibility to support the new and the innovative
creating opportunities for participation in the arts
building a culture of co-operation with partners and the arts community
this also includes our internal priority of making the transition to Creative Scotland
1.2 How we use our funds
Most of our project funding is through what we call ‘open funds’, which are
competitive funds to which any organisation which meets the basic eligibility
requirements can apply. The fund described in this document is an ‘open fund’.
The grants we offer are paid for by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery.
Funding in this case is from the National Lottery.
2. ABOUT APPLYING FOR GRANTS
2.1 Who can apply
Only organisations which are formally established and have a commitment to equal
opportunities can apply. In order to demonstrate accountability for public funds, you
must be able to provide evidence of both your legal and financial status, and what we
need for this is described in detail at 5.4 Supporting Material.
If you are a new organisation, you must be properly constituted before you make an
application – we cannot consider applications from organisations who do not have a
clear legal status.
Types of organisations which are eligible
You should primarily be an arts organisation or an organisation which wants funding
for arts activity, such as:
local authorities, registered charities and other non-profit making organisations
public sector agencies, if the arts activity is outwith your day-to-day work
schools (who should apply in the name of their local authority) if the arts activity is
clearly outwith the normal curriculum, and there is significant professional artistic
input which will result in the production of new work, as well as clear public
benefit
artists’ groups, as long as you already have an appropriate management
structure in place, a written constitution, and dedicated banking arrangements
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
commercial organisations, but only if you can clearly show that your project will
promote the public good and will not be for private or commercial gain. If you are
a commercial organisation, particularly a partnership, you must contact the
Lottery Department to discuss your project before submitting an application.
sole traders, as long as you can show that your project will promote the public
good and will not be for private or commercial gain. We will expect you to clearly
demonstrate how you will deliver the project, detailing the systems you will put in
place to manage public funds and mitigate any likely risks.
groups of organisations working together (consortiums) may apply
joint applicants can also apply, but one of the organisations involved will need to
take the lead and have the main responsibility for managing the application and
any grant. The nominated lead organisation must keep this role throughout the
project. Once we have made an award, we cannot change the lead organisation
to which the grant has been paid. You will need to give us a partnership
agreement.
organisations based outside Scotland can apply, as long as the project is for the
benefit of audiences and participants in Scotland
organisations who receive Foundation Funding from us may be able to apply, but
you must consult your lead officer before making an application
2.2 Who cannot apply
individuals (please see our Individuals: Application Guidelines 2009/10)
organisations which are not formally constituted as described above
organisations which do not have a commitment to equal opportunities
We will not usually make grants to organisations in poor financial health. You must
have sufficient assets to meet your current liabilities; and if you are in deficit, there
must be evidence that you are managing it so that this deficit is reducing rather than
growing.
2.3 What our funds can be used for
The aim of the Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10 (Open Fund) is ‘to help create
opportunities for people to participate in the arts across Scotland, by investing
in new equipment and improving arts facilities’
We will accept applications for both:
new equipment to support participation in the arts and artistic production
minor building work and fit-out of spaces
The level of grants available will be between £10,000 and £100,000. It is anticipated
that competition for funds will be strong, therefore we will only be able to support a
limited number of the applications that we receive.
In particular, we do not expect to be able to support more than a couple of
applications at £100,000 because of the limited budget available, therefore, please
consider the level of your request to us very carefully.
You can apply for lottery funds even if we have refused your application for help with
capital costs in the past. However, you cannot apply for the same project again or for
one which has changed only a little.
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
If you need funding between £500 and £10,000 you should consider applying to
Awards for All. This is a joint programme to help small organisations, supported by
the Scottish Arts Council, SportScotland and the Big Lottery Fund. For more
information please call 0870 240 2391or visit www.awardsforall.org.uk/scotland/
2.4 What our funds cannot be used for
non arts activity: if your project includes non-arts elements as well as arts
activities we will only consider funding for the arts related costs.
2.5 Other requirements
Partnership funding
Every application for lottery funds should have a high level of financial support from
at least one other source or from your own resources. This is known as partnership
funding. We will not fund more than 75% of the whole cost of your project and
in many cases we will fund much less. This means that you will be required to
provide a minimum of 25% of the total project costs from sources other than
the Scottish Arts Council.
We encourage all applicants to seek as much partnership funding as possible and
therefore minimise the request to the Scottish Arts Council. Greater weight is often
given to those applications where there is a higher percentage of partnership funding.
This helps to spread lottery money further, to as many arts groups in Scotland as
possible, and also shows the demand for your project through support from your local
community and potential users.
We will work out our grant as a percentage of the total arts related project cost as
detailed in your application. If your final costs are less than you expect, we will only
fund the same percentage of the actual cost as we originally awarded.
Please note that we will not award more funding if your costs increase to exceed the
total project cost as submitted in your application.
In all cases partnership funding is required. At least 10% of the total project costs
must be in cash and any remainder may be ‘in-kind’. Your partnership funding does
not all have to be in place before you apply, but you must have a clear idea of where
it will come from.
Cash contributions might include:
funding from public organisations such as local authorities
grants from trusts and foundations
a contribution from your organisation
In-kind contributions might include:
voluntary labour
donated equipment
use of premises or office space for the project
gifts of land valued at the open-market price
donated materials directly related to the project
Please ensure that you include your in-kind contributions in both the projected
income and expenditure sections of your project budget, and that your calculation of
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
the value of these costs is realistic. For more information, you can ask our Help
Desk for the guidance note on in-kind contributions.
If you are a Scottish Arts Council foundation funded organisation (FO) and you want
to use some of your own money or staff time as partnership funding, please contact
your lead officer before you apply.
You cannot use money from one Scottish Arts Council grant as partnership funding
in another application.
In some instances, you may be able to use money from other National Lottery
distributors as partnership funding, but this is very rare because each distributor
funds different types of activity. In such cases, the total grants you may apply for
from one or more distributors may not exceed 75% of the total cost of the project. In
particular, you cannot use grants from Awards for All as partnership funding, as the
Scottish Arts Council provides the funds for these grants, and this would represent
‘double funding’ from ourselves. Please contact the Help Desk if you need further
information on this.
Project location
The project must take place in Scotland or be for the benefit of audiences and
participants in Scotland
The project must not have started
We will not normally fund any project which has already started, or which will have
started before we give you a decision on your application. We will not pay for any
goods or services which you order before receiving our official decision and offer
letter.
The project start date is defined as:
the point at which you begin preparatory work which represents a commitment,
financial or otherwise, to carrying out the whole project, as opposed to the dates
when any exhibitions, performances or festivals take place.
It does not mean you cannot carry out any preliminary thoughts or
experimentation necessary to provide a sound basis for your application.
This means that:
you must not issue or enter into any binding contracts before this date
you must not refer to our support in publicity material before you have received
our offer letter, and met any conditions that may be included in this
The project start date should, ideally, be at least one month after our decision to
allow time for you to receive our formal offer letter (normally issued two to four weeks
after we have made our decision) and meet any special conditions (see Section
7:After the decision). It must not be before the date by which we will let you know a
decision.
We will try to make sure that we reach a decision on the date we have given you (see
When you can apply below). Sometimes, however, meeting dates may change.
Please bear this in mind when you plan the start date of your project. If the date of
our decision changes, we will let you know as soon as possible.
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
When you can apply
There is one scheduled deadline of 25 September 2009 for all applications. A
decision on your application will be made by the Head of Lottery of the Scottish Arts
Council by 4 December 2009.
Project length
The project must start within 12 months of the date of our offer letter and must be
completed and all payments must be drawn down in accordance with the timescales
set out in your application, within a maximum of 18 months from the date of the offer
letter.
Additionality
We need to ensure that our funding does not substitute for other potential funding
from private or public sources. For example, we will not consider projects, however
worthwhile, which are designed to fill funding gaps, or projects that replace the
withdrawal of other public funds. Similarly, we will not fund activity that is primarily
the responsibility of other government organisations, or activity within schools that is
not clearly separate from the normal curricular activity.
If we already give you Foundation or Flexible funding, you will need to show clearly
how the project is additional to the work covered by your existing funding agreement.
3. HOW TO APPLY
Please ensure that you have read and understood these guidelines and can provide
all the information and supporting material that we ask for.
Complete the application form and document checklist at the back of the form.
When you have filled in the application form and checked all the documents you
need to enclose, please send them to:
Grants Department
Scottish Arts Council
12 Manor Place
Edinburgh EH3 7DD
Important points to note:
your application must arrive no later than 5pm on the deadline date. We
are happy to receive applications up to four weeks before the deadline, but
cannot accept late applications.
If you do not give us all the information we ask for, including all
supporting material, we will not be able to process your application
and we will reject it. We will not normally contact you to ask for
missing information or documents, and we will not accept an amended
application after the deadline date has passed.
please make sure that you address your application to the Grants
Department as addressing it to any other department will delay it
please do not fax or e-mail your application form, as we cannot accept it in
this form
please present your application in the simplest format possible (stapled or
clipped), to make photocopying easier
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
please make sure that you keep copies of the application form and all
supporting documents for your own files as we will not be able to give you
copies of material you send us
if you deliberately give any false or misleading information, we will withdraw
your application or, if we have already awarded a grant, ask you to pay back
any money we have given you. This may also affect any future applications
you may make.
4. HOW WE WILL ASSESS YOUR APPLICATION
4.1 Criteria for assessment and decision-making
The fund is intended to help meet Corporate Priority 4, as contained in the Scottish
Arts Council Business Plan 2009/10: ‘Creating opportunities for participation in
the arts’.
The specific aim of the fund is ‘to help create opportunities for people to
participate in the arts across Scotland, by investing in new equipment and
improving arts facilities’
It will do this by providing funding for:
new equipment to support participation in the arts and artistic production
minor building works and fit-out of spaces
We will accept applications for both equipment and/or minor building work.
In addition to the above aim, the fund will seek to support proposals which prioritise
the needs of a number of priority participant groups as identified in the recent report
‘Taking Part: Arts attendance, Participation and Attitudes in Scotland 2008’, available
from www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/publications/1006111.aspx (full report) or
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/publications/1006111.aspx (summary of key
findings).
These are:
people living in deprived areas
disabled people
people aged 65+
ethnic minority communities
people living in rural areas
We will also judge how well your proposal meets our core criteria for assessment and
criteria specific to this fund.
Core criteria:
artistic quality
public benefit and demand
how well the project will be managed and delivered
financial strength and value for money
Criteria specific to this fund:
projects which develop partnership approaches – by sharing resources or
housing together arts organisations sharing a common purpose to bring mutual
benefits
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
It is very important that you think carefully about how your proposal addresses the
aim, priority groups, and the criteria, and show this clearly in your application. We
give advice in Section 5, Writing Your Application, on the kind of information we are
looking for.
4.2 Other points to note
You should note that the amount of money available is limited and demand for funds
is likely to be extremely high. This means that it may not be possible to fund all
applications which meet our criteria.
Please do not try to influence the decision by lobbying officers directly or indirectly. If
you do, we may reject your application.
We aim to spread our funds as widely as possible, and will take account of any
support you have previously received from us as part of our assessment.
If you currently have a grant from us or have had a grant in the past, we may use
some of the information we collected while monitoring your other project/s when
assessing your application. If we have any concerns about activity that we have
previously funded, this may affect your current or future applications.
If you are applying to other Scottish Arts Council funds to run more than one project
at a time, we will consider your ability to finance and manage this.
5. WRITING YOUR APPLICATION
5.1 General information
Please make sure that you are using the most recent version of the application
form and guidelines by checking our website at
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/funding/apply/organisations/capital.aspx or by
contacting our Help Desk
You must answer all the questions in the application form. The amount of
information you need to include in your application will depend on the amount of
money you are asking for. The larger the grant applied for, and the more
complex your project, the more detail we will expect. If you do not think that a
question is relevant to your application, you should answer ‘not applicable’.
You must provide all of the supporting information that we ask for, as detailed
below
If you have not answered all of the questions or enclosed all required
supporting material with your application, we will treat it as incomplete and
will reject it. We will not normally contact you to ask for missing
information or documents, and we will not accept an amended application
after the deadline date has passed.
5.2 Information and support
If you are applying for the first time and not sure how to go ahead with your
application, or if you would like to discuss your proposal with someone before
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
preparing your application, please contact our Help Desk and they will be able to
advise you or put you in touch with a relevant Lottery officer.
There will be occasions when it may be helpful to meet with a Lottery officer to
discuss your proposal in person. We normally hold these meetings at our offices,
and you should contact the Lottery Department to arrange this at least four
weeks before the application deadline. Please note that discussing your
proposal with us beforehand, whether in person, by phone or in writing, does not
guarantee that your application will be successful.
If you have any questions about your eligibility or the application process, please
contact the Help Desk
5.3 Specific Fund information
Through the questions in the application form and the range of supporting material
we ask for, we seek to draw out information which will enable us to make a decision
on your project, and this section explains what we are looking for. Sections 5.3.1 and
5.3.2 describe the information that must be provided by all applicants while Section
5.3.3 and 5.3.4 describe the specific information and any additional supporting
material required for applications for Equipment and Minor Building Work
respectively.
5.3.1 Supporting material
A range of supporting material is needed for all applications, both to confirm your
eligibility to apply for our grants, and to demonstrate how your project will be
achieved, and we will reject your application if it is not provided.
All applicants must provide the following:
a copy of your constitution, memorandum and articles of association or other
governing articles as appropriate (see guidance under Legal status below)
a copy of your most recent audited or certified accounts or other evidence of
financial status (see guidance under Financial status below)
a copy of your equal opportunities policy
a copy of your access policy and plan
a schedule of your regular arts activity, including education and outreach
a detailed budget
a timetable for the project
relevant market research, letters of support or evidence of demand as
appropriate
a copy of your Child Protection policy, if applicable to your project
With regard to eligibility, what you provide may vary depending on your
circumstances and the following explains what we are looking for.
Legal status:
Most applicants are required to provide evidence of their legal status with their
application form, especially if you are applying for the first time. Exceptions to this
are:
local authorities, government agencies and statutory bodies, and organisations
which currently receive Foundation or Flexible funding from us
organisations who have previously sent a constitution, unless there have been
significant changes to it since the last time you provided this
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
The type of evidence you provide will depend on the type of organisation you are, but
should clearly describe how your organisation is structured and managed, including
how it deals with financial matters. It should be appropriately authenticated with
signatures and dates. Common examples are constitutions or Memorandum and
Articles of Association. Our Short Guide to Constitutions is available from the website
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/publications/1000295.aspx or from the Help
Desk
There are some applicants for whom the requirements may be slightly different, and
these are explained below:
sole traders - if you do not have a formal governing document, we will require
appropriate documentation to demonstrate that your business is appropriately set
up and registered as a separate legal entity. This may vary from person to
person, but as a minimum we would require evidence that you are registered with
HM Revenue and Customs and that you have a dedicated bank account for your
business
consortiums - if you apply as a consortium, you will need to provide us with a
formal consortium agreement which clearly sets out the aims and objectives of
the consortium, its membership and how the consortium will manage all aspects
of its affairs. You will also need to show that there is a dedicated bank account for
the consortium
joint applicants - you will need to provide us with a partnership agreement
showing that there is a dedicated bank account for the partnership
Financial status
You must provide evidence of your financial status with your application. We
normally expect this to be your most recent audited or certified accounts, but this
may take different forms depending on the type of organisation you are and what you
are required to provide for Companies House or the Charities Regulators
if you do not have audited or certified accounts, you will need to tell us why and
provide other evidence of your financial status and that suitable business banking
arrangements are in place
whether you have applied for funding in the past, or intend making more than one
application, you must provide your accounts or evidence of your financial status
with each application, unless you receive Foundation or Flexible funding from us
Working with children and young people
If the project for which you are seeking funding involves working with children and
young people, we expect good practice and legislation to be followed. We are
committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and vulnerable adults so we ask
you to provide a copy of your Child Protection Policy as part of your application to
demonstrate that good practice will be followed in the management of your project.
You can find further information about child protection guidelines for the arts in the
booklet Creating Safety: child protection guidelines for the arts which is available on
our website www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/publications/1000293.aspx. More
information and advice is available from the Children in Scotland website
www.childreninscotland.org.uk
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
5.3.2 Information about your project
Artistic programme
We will need to know who will run and develop the artistic programme in the future.
If they are already responsible for this area, you should give us details of their
experience. If you plan to take on new staff, you should include job descriptions and
details of salary levels. We have to be sure that suitable people will be in charge of
the artistic programme and will have enough time to manage the artistic activities you
plan.
Long term viability and sustainability
We have to be sure that your organisation is capable of taking on the project both
financially and managerially. Your project and the long-term running costs must
make financial sense. A detailed breakdown of costs and an explanation of how
these have been worked out should be provided.
You will need to show that you have considered how the project will affect your future
running costs. In particular, you should consider how your project could contribute to
the organisation’s long-term financial stability by reducing future running costs or by
increasing earned income. We will need to be sure that you will have funds available
to cover all the running costs of the project for a reasonable number of years after
the end of the project. Your Business Plan should include your estimated income
and spending for the years during the project and for three years afterwards.
5.3.3 Equipment
You will need to show that you have considered how buying any equipment will affect
your future running costs. For example, it may be that you are currently paying a lot
to keep the old equipment working and hoping that new equipment will cost less to
maintain, but the new equipment may cost more to insure and keep secure, you may
have to take on new premises, or perhaps people will have to be trained to use it.
In addition to the supporting material list above, we will require:
three quotations for each of item of equipment to be purchased
We would normally expect you to keep equipment purchased with the aid of our grant
for a certain time period, for example:
fixed technical equipment (e.g. lighting rigs, staging, sound equipment) - 10 years
vehicles, computer and portable equipment - 5 years
5.3.4 Minor Building Work
You can apply for funding for any building where arts activities will take place,
including those used for both arts and non-arts activities, such as village halls. If the
building will be used for some non-arts activities as well as arts activities, we will look
carefully at the level of funding requested.
If the facilities are to be available to other arts organisations, you will need to show
that people want to use them and can afford any charges that you may make. If you
want to improve your facilities for artists, we would expect you to get advice from
them first.
Our period of interest for all building projects will be for a period of 25 years.
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
Business plan
You will have to submit a business plan for your organisation. This should include
things such as:
your organisation’s detailed aims
your artistic and education policies
your organisation’s track record
your current arts activities, and the resources available now to carry them out
a workplan for each financial year of the project
your present management and staffing structure, with details of any changes
planned as a result of the project
a budget and cash-flow forecast showing your income and spending for each
financial year of the project and for three years afterwards (including any
assumptions you have made)
a fundraising plan with important key dates.
Special committee
You may need to set up a special committee to manage the building project. We
need to know who the members of the committee will be and what experience they
have of managing building work. You may have to take on a project manager. If so,
you should give us details of their experience, their job description and their salary
level.
Design brief
You should prepare the brief with particular care. This is an important document
which your design team and other consultants must work from. It will govern their
approach to the project and how well they understand the issues. By the time you
make a full application, your brief and design must be completely fixed. You must be
sure that there will be no changes after you have submitted the application because
this could affect the cost and the quality of the project.
Design aims
A one-page summary of the design team’s response to your brief, this should
describe the team’s thinking and the methods it has used to achieve its aims for the
project.
Building design
We want to encourage the development of arts buildings of high architectural quality.
Good feasibility and design development work will help to make sure that your
building is well designed, well built, of high quality and fit for its purpose.
Buildings should:
be environmentally friendly and energy efficient
add to the character of the area
provide maximum independent access for people with disabilities
avoid short-term savings which would spoil good design
You should tell us how you have chosen any consultants working on the project and
show that this has been fair and open. The Royal Incorporation of Architects of
Scotland (RIAS) can give advice on selecting consultants. You should tell us what
advice you have taken on disability design issues. Give details of what stage you
have reached in getting planning permission or listed building consent, if you need
them.
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
The Stage D Design Report
The architectural report must clearly describe the spaces, how they will work and
how they will accommodate the activities you plan. It should include photos and an
analysis of any limits in the site which may affect the project.
The report should show how you have tackled all the issues which your initial brief
raised. It should include details of:
the principles used in designing the lighting, sound, heating, ventilation and
security
the building structure, such as the materials proposed, their effects on or benefits
to the environment, the surveys proposed and the structural strategy
proposed finishes and materials
external landscaping
artists to be involved
proposals to provide maximum facilities for disabled people, with information on
access, sight and sound facilities for the whole building and suitable car parking
The report should confirm that your board or management committee has approved the
proposal, and that you have a building warrant and planning permission.
Drawings
We need a complete set of scheme drawings to explain the project and show the design
quality. They should include:
a site plan
layout plans
elevations
sections (1:200 or 1:100); and/or
other 3D drawings, perspectives and computer images (if available)
Each drawing should be clearly marked with its title, scale, date, number, north point and
the name of the architect or designer. Drawings should be no larger than A1 or smaller
than A3 and should be folded to A4 size. We will not accept reduced or photocopied
drawings or drawings which are not to scale.
If your project involves altering an existing building, we need a set of drawings to show
the building as it is now. The alterations you plan should be clearly marked in red on the
drawings.
Project budget
This should be based on the Stage D design drawings and should include professional
fees, a contingency and an allowance for inflation.
Specific information required as part of any buildings application:
a set of drawings for any building works (to Stage D)
a copy of your design brief and Stage D report
a business plan
a marketing plan
a detailed cash flow covering the whole period of the project, broken down by
quarters
detailed capital cost breakdown
a copy of any feasibility study you have carried out
a summary of design aims
a timetable for the project
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
your proposed method of drawing up contracts
an independent access audit that assesses your current capabilities and makes
suggestions for improvement, along with a copy of your access policy and your plans
for implementation
if you lease the site, your lease should be for at least 25 years: please send us your
landlord’s written agreement to the project and a copy of the lease agreement
Further information - RIAS Consultancy
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) provides impartial, multi-
disciplinary advice to clients of the construction industry through RIAS Consultancy. It is
familiar with Scottish Arts Council procedures and is particularly aware of the needs of
clients who are inexperienced in the procurement of building projects.
RIAS Consultancy can offer advice and support at all stages of the procurement
process, such as briefing; selecting a design team; controlling quality, time and cost;
managing risk and optimising value; appointing a contractor; and understanding
information from consultants and contractors. In short, RIAS Consultancy aims to make
you a better informed client of the construction industry before you embark on a
construction project.
Contact:
Phone: 0131 229 7306
Website: www.rias.org.uk
Email: info@rias.org.uk
6. WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR APPLICATION
6.1 A Grants Co-ordinator will check that your application is eligible and that it is
complete. If not we will reject it and return it to you with a letter to say why. We will
not normally contact you to ask for missing information.
6.2 If we are happy that we can go ahead with your application, we will send you written
acknowledgement within 10 working days from the date of receiving it (please allow
for public holidays). The letter will include a reference number which you must
quote if you need to contact us about your application.
Please note: due to the volume of applications we receive, we will not normally be able
to respond to phone enquiries about whether we have received your form in the days
immediately after a deadline. However, you should contact us if you have not received
an acknowledgement letter from us by two weeks after the deadline date.
6.3 We will pass your application form to a lottery officer who will assess your proposal
against the criteria described at section 4.1. Where appropriate, the lottery officer will
co-ordinate advice from colleagues, any relevant agencies and specialist advisors.
Within four weeks, we will send you a Progress Letter giving you the name of your
lottery officer and telling you when you can expect a decision and who we have
asked to comment on your application. We may also ask for clarification about any
questions we have on your application. Please note that we will reject any application
that we think does not have enough detail to allow us to carry out an assessment.
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6.4 A decision on your application will be made by the Co-Director of Arts / Head of
Lottery of the Scottish Arts Council in line with the timescale described at When you
can apply, and in your Progress Letter, but please note that the decision may be
delayed if we need to ask you to provide more information.
6.5 We will try to make sure that we reach a decision on the date we have given you.
Sometimes, however, meeting dates may change. Please bear this in mind when
you plan the start date of your project. If the date of our decision changes, we will let
you know as soon as possible.
7. AFTER THE DECISION
7.1 If you are unsuccessful
If your application is not successful we will write to you and explain why. We will also
tell you who to contact if you need any more information about the decision.
7.2 If you are successful
If you are successful, we will let you know, either by letter or e-mail, or sometimes by
phone. We will tell you if there are any special conditions attached to the award.
Two to four weeks after we let you know the decision, we will send you a formal offer
letter, which will include:
details of any special conditions
our standard grant conditions
information explaining what you must do to claim your grant and monitor your
project
Once we have awarded a grant we cannot give any more funding for the
project.
7.3 Monitoring your grant
We have to make sure that the projects we fund are completed in line with the
proposals outlined in your approved application and that lottery funds are used for
the intended purpose. We call this monitoring. We need to monitor your grant so
that we can account for the use of the funds we distribute, and to demonstrate the
positive effect the arts can have on the lives of the people of Scotland.
It is a standard grant condition that you meet our monitoring requirements, which will
be detailed in your offer letter. We will rely on you to monitor progress, and keep us
up to date on the project. For larger projects, we may also appoint external monitors
to help us with this. You should let us know if the contact person in your organisation
changes at any time during this period.
Please note that the Scottish Arts Council retains an interest in lottery funded
projects and these are as follows:
25 years in the case of buildings
10 years for musical instruments and fixed technical equipment
5 years for vehicles, computer and touring technical equipment.
7.4 Payment of your grant
In order to release payment of your grant, we will require evidence of expenditure
(receipted invoices) along with a completed Request for Payment/Conditions
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
Checklist proforma. Before the final payment can be made, we will ask you to submit
a Completion Report - full details of the forms that you will need to submit will be
included in your offer letter.
7.5 Complying with Conditions of Grant
You must keep to the grant conditions shown in both our offer letter and any
accompanying documents. In particular:
You must not make changes to your project without our advance written
permission.
You must carry out your project in line with the timescales given in your
application, and within the time limits shown in our offer letter. It is very
important that you let us know about any delay or difficulties in keeping to
the conditions so that we can give advice and help as necessary.
o If there are any delays either in carrying out your project or in getting your
reports to us, you must let the Lottery Officer know as soon as possible. If
you do not, we will withdraw your grant, and this can affect other grants that
you have from us, as well as any applications you may make in the future.
You will have to acknowledge our funding in all your publicity and you can
download a Credit Kit explaining how you can do this from our website at
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/professional/prandmarketing/creditkit.aspx. If you do
not credit us it will affect your grant.
7.6 Evaluation
We may ask you to take part in an evaluation study or carry out an assessment of the
project after it has finished.
We may also ask our staff or specialist advisors to attend and evaluate
performances, exhibitions, and so on. We will give you a copy of their evaluation,
and you will have the opportunity to comment on it
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
8 ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION
8.1 How we work
As a public body, the Scottish Arts Council has a duty to act impartially and with
objectivity. We seek to exercise this function in a fair and even-handed manner that
ensures we remain transparent and accountable at all times. We aim to be efficient,
polite and supportive in everything we do. We seek to improve the service we offer,
so our guidelines and application forms may change over time. We are committed to
making the best use of resources available to us by making sure we provide high
standards of quality and customer care.
We constantly aim to improve our services and welcome your comments and
suggestions. If you are unhappy with any part of your contact with us please let us
know. You can phone or write to us at the usual address or email
quality.service@scottisharts.org.uk and we will do our best to resolve your concerns
as quickly as possible. However, if you are still not satisfied, you can get our
complaints procedure from any member of staff, our Help Desk, or from the website
at www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/contactus/complaints.aspx
8.2 Appeals
If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your funding application
you can write or phone us to tell us why you are unhappy. We will discuss
your concerns with you and treat all comments you make very seriously. If
you are still not happy you have the right to appeal formally against how we
have reached a funding decision. You must make your appeal using our
appeals form and send it to the Chair of the Appeals Committee within 28
days of the decision which you are appealing against. You can get more
information about our Appeals Procedure from our website at
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/publications/1000349.aspx
8.3 Publicity
You will find full listings of all the grants we award on our website at
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/funding/pastgrantsawarded.aspx
8.4 Openness and accountability
For the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) we are
a Scottish public authority and any information we hold (which could include your
application) could be seen by anyone making a request under the Freedom of
Information Act.
We will hold information you supply in manual files. We will then summarise it and
transfer the details to a computer-based grants management system. We are likely
to hold reports from the information you supply within your application and from
comments made on your application by external assessors and staff members are
likely to be held on both manual and computer-based systems. We will make the
information you supply available to those assessing any other grant applications you
make.
Occasionally, we will use the information contained in your application for the
purposes of research and evaluation, and this may be done by people who are not
staff of the Scottish Arts Council.
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
Sometimes we may hold meetings to consider large scale grant applications where
members of the public and media might be present. We could discuss your
application, supporting material and reports written by our officers and independent
assessors could be discussed at this open meeting.
By submitting your application you waive any right to raise any type of legal
proceedings against us as a result of us releasing the contents of your application in
response to an information request made under FOISA.
Information that we may release
If your application is successful we will release the following information from your
funding application if we receive a FOI request:
your name
the amount of funding requested
your 25 word project description
If more detailed information is requested, we will consider this request under FOISA
and follow the Act’s exemptions and the public interest test appropriately.
If we need to release more detail from your funding application we will contact you
and let you know about this, although this may not always be possible. We will only
release information on applications that are successful. We do not release
information on unsuccessful applications
For more information on the FOISA please see the Scottish Information
Commissioners website at www.itspublicknowledge.co.uk or read the FOISA
guidance on our website at
www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/freedomofinformation.aspx.
.
8.5 Data protection
We use data held on our grants management system for the following purposes
to report statistics
to assess applications
for accounting purposes
for contacting you
The details of your application may become public information (see Openness and
Accountability above). However, your personal details will be held within our grants
management system and our paper files, and only our staff, appointed auditors and
individuals or organisations who may help us assess or monitor grants will have
access to them.
You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to see the information we hold
on you. You can do so by completing a Subject Access Request form available on
our website at www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/information/dataprotection.aspx. By signing
your application form you are agreeing that we can use your information as shown
above.
For more information on the Data Protection Act 1998 see
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
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Application Guidelines National Lottery Capital Grants Scheme 2009/10
Appendix 1
Projects involving other lottery distributors
The other lottery distributors publish their own guidelines and application forms.
If you think your project might be relevant to more than one distributor, you should decide
which would be closest to the main aims of your project and apply to that distributor. If we
receive an application that we think is more relevant to one of the other distributors, we will
suggest where you should apply.
If your project can be separated into different elements that are relevant to different
distributors, you can apply to each of them using the relevant application forms. On each
application you must make it clear that you are applying to more than one distributor and you
must give details of the items you want each of them to fund. You cannot apply for the same
project costs from more than one distributor. The distributors will consult each other to
assess your application.
We co-operate with the other lottery distributors in a scheme that automatically checks all
lottery applications.
You cannot fund your whole project through the lottery and you will need at least one other
source of funding. Each distributor will ask you for evidence of partnership funding for the
application you are making to them.
The following organisations have similar responsibilities to us for distributing National Lottery
funds in Scotland but they have their own areas of interest.
Big Lottery Fund
Phone: Glasgow: 0141 242 1400
London: 020 7211 1800
Email: enquiries.scotland@biglotteryfund.org.uk
Website: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
SportScotland
SportScotland is responsible for distributing lottery funds to sports projects and
organisations throughout Scotland.
Phone: 0131 317 7200
E-mail: library@sportscotland.org.uk
Website: www.sportscotland.org.uk
The Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is responsible for distributing lottery funds to heritage projects
and organisations throughout the UK.
Phone: Edinburgh: 0131 225 9450
London: 020 7591 6000
Email: scotland@hlf.org.uk
Website: www.hlf.org.uk
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