National Lottery Small Grants Programme
Sorry, this programme is closed. If you need help please contact us
The Arts Council has designed this programme to encourage you to develop and deliver your ideas, linked to your artistic needs and to your future plans.
The aim of this programme is to assist organisations to deliver arts projects which contribute to the growth of arts in the community for new and existing audiences and which reflect the diversity of Northern Ireland’s society and culture.
We want to support activities which benefit the people of Northern Ireland or that help arts organisations in Northern Ireland carry out their work.
All applications should fit within the objectives stated in the Council’s five-year plan.
Who can apply?
We welcome applications from the widest possible range of organisations. You will be required to provide proof that you have a legal constitution.
- Registered charities and other organisations which cannot distribute profits
- Groups of organisations working together to deliver specific projects
- Formally constituted parent-teacher associations
Who Cannot Apply?
- Organisations currently in receipt of Arts Council funding from its Annual Funding or Lottery Project Funding programmes
- Individuals or Sole traders
- Commercial trading companies
- Companies that exist to distribute a profit or which are constituted to allow payment of dividends to non-asset-locked bodies
- Statutory authorities or organisations governed by statutory authorities i.e. for example NI Education Authority schools.
- Organisations who are in breach of any previously issued ACNI award grant conditions
Frequently Asked Questions
The aim of this programme is to assist organisations to deliver arts projects which contribute to the growth of arts in the community for new and existing audiences and which reflect the diversity of Northern Ireland’s society and culture.
You can apply for an award between £500 and £5,000 for any project. Please keep in mind that the amount of money available is limited and demand for funds is extremely high. It is not usually possible to fund all applications that simply meet the criteria or to fund the entirety of any given request.
You should be realistic in your expectations and budgets, and bear in mind that the Council may choose to fund specific elements of your proposal rather than the full proposal.
In exceptional circumstances, we will consider awards above £5,000; if you wish to make such an application, you must have discussed your proposal with the relevant artform Officer who will advise you on its eligibility. Please remember that if an Officer advises that your proposal is eligible for a grant in excess of £5,000 that does not guarantee that you will be funded to that level. If you are advised that your proposal cannot be considered exceptional, you may not apply for an amount in excess of £5,000 and your application will be deemed ineligible if you submit an application for more than that amount.
Unlike programmes with limited application windows and set deadline dates, you can apply to the programme at any time while it is open. Rolling programmes remain open for as long as the budgetary situation allows.
Yes. You must apply using our online system. We will not accept applications in hard copy or by email.
- Online applications may be edited, saved and returned while the programme remains open.
- You must submit all mandatory enclosures associated with the application at the same time as your application, i.e. they must be uploaded to your online application prior to its submission. These enclosures are listed on the Attachments page within the online application and are detailed below.
Any formally constituted voluntary, community or arts group can apply. As can formally constituted parent-teacher associations. Groups of organisations can work together on projects, though there must be a lead applicant whose name will be on the application and who will have overall responsibility for the project and who manage the grant, if awarded.
No. You may submit only one application.
You must provide the requested mandatory enclosures. If you do not, your application will be ineligible.
Mandatory enclosures are the documents which you must provide in conjunction with your application. Some of these must be submitted with your application; others can be made available on the Government Funding Database (GFD - see notes below).
Please keep in mind the following important points:
- All mandatory enclosures must be in Word, Excel or pdf format. We cannot accept documents in other formats.
- The total size of all your uploaded documents should not exceed 25 Mb.
- You must submit all necessary enclosures with your application form. If any enclosures are missing, your application will be ineligible.
- If you submit an enclosure in a format which we do not accept or which is corrupted or which we cannot open, the enclosure will be considered missing and your application will be ineligible.
- Do not compress files into one zip file. Files must be uploaded as individual documents.
- All data must be PC compatible. If non-PC compatible data is supplied, your application will not be assessed. For example, if using a MAC, it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that any enclosures uploaded to the online application are PC compatible.
- The submission of weblinks or website addresses in lieu of enclosure documents is not acceptable and will result in your application being made ineligible.
IMPORTANT
What Mandatory Enclosures are necessary for Small Grants Programme applications?
- Constitution / Articles of Association / Memorandum of the applicant
- Detailed project budget
IF you know which artists/facilitators/tutors/technical staff you intend to hire to deliver your project, you must also upload the following:
- CVs for the artists/facilitators/tutors - or technical staff you propose to employ as part of the project.
If you do not know who you intend to employ, and do not name or supply CVs for project staff, this may impact the overall decision on your application as the assessor will not be able to determine the quality of the project personnel.
If your constitution is already available on the GFD, you do not have to upload it to your application.
The project budget should provide details of both income and expenditure associated with the project.
You need to tell us how much your project will cost and how much you need from us.
Both the project cost and how much you need from us must tally with the amounts detailed on page 6 of the online application form. You will be required to provide us with a breakdown of each activity (budget heading). You must provide a breakdown of any activity which costs over £1,000, eg artists fees, £1,500 – 5 artists at £300 each.
You must ensure that the project budget is balanced, ie there is no shortfall. If your total project cost is more than you have asked from us, please provide details of income (confirmed and anticipated). Examples of other income is detailed below:
- Grants from other agencies
- Ticket sales, eg 300 tickets at £5 each - £1,500
- Income from sales of other items, eg books, publications, programmes
- Fees
- Fundraising
- Sponsorship.
Your application will be deemed ineligible if:
- You do not provide the mandatory enclosures when you submit your application form which are:
- Legal constitution of the applicant organisation – please ensure the organisation name on the application form is the same as the name on your constitution document
- Detailed project budget to include both income and expenditure associated with the proposed project – please ensure the budget balances. A template is available on our website. Further information about our requirements is provided both in the FAQs (see above) and the Guidance Notes.
- Costs over £1,000 are not broken down.
- You fail to answer ALL the questions. As per the online application form, ALL questions must be answered. Incomplete application forms will not be accepted.
- You submit an application for ineligible projects. The following is ineligible:
- Purchase of musical instruments
- Capital costs, eg refurbishment or renovation of buildings
- Equipment only projects – the Arts Council will consider funding equipment costs to a maximum value of 50% of your requested amount. Further detail is available on page 3 of the Guidance Notes.
If you have a query regarding the eligibility of your project, please contact a member of Arts Council staff to discuss further.
- You submit your application less than two months before the start of your project / event.
- You do not complete and return the Monitoring Form (published to your application account) by the specified timeframe. Further information about the Monitoring Form is detailed on page 5 of the Guidance Notes.
You will receive a Monitoring Form which will be published to your application account. You will receive an email advising you that the monitoring form is available for completion once it has been published to your account. You must complete and return the Monitoring Form by the timeframe specified as part of the application process. Failure to do so may affect eligibility.
As long as the activity is not regulated activity, i.e. working with the same group of participants more than once on a regular basis, then the activity is unregulated and as such there is no legal requirement for Access NI checks. However best practice would dictate that the organisation registers with Access NI or an Umbrella Body regardless and undertakes checks.
However if the activity is deemed to be regulated, then a legal requirement for Access NI checks exist.
Access NI - what you need to know - https://artscouncil-ni.org/resources/accessni-what-you-need-to-know
Best Practice Guidelines for Arts Sector Organisations are available from our website - https://artscouncil-ni.org/resources/acni-safeguarding-policy
Volunteer Now’s Standards & Guidance for Safeguarding Children & Young People are available from our website - https://artscouncil-ni.org/resources/volunteer-now-safeguarding-children-young-people
Disclosure and Barring in Northern Ireland (Adults) -https://artscouncil-ni.org/resources/disclosure-and-barring-in-northern-ireland-adults
Disclosure and Barring in Northern Ireland (Children) - https://artscouncil-ni.org/resources/disclosure-and-barring-in-northern-ireland-children
If your organisation is not registered with either Access NI or an Umbrella Body in order to obtain Access NI checks, you must provide a statement explaining why.
ACNI would advise that you contact Access NI to discuss why you believe you do not require Registration to obtain Access NI checks in relation to your proposed project.
Contact details for Access NI are available from their website - https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/accessni-criminal-record-checks/apply-accessni-check
Failure to answer the question on Access NI will deem your application ineligible. Arts Council will assess the suitability of your response where you are not registered with either Access NI or an Umbrella Body during the assessment of your application.
Please note it is a requirement of our funding that any organisation which comes into contact with children ,young people and adults at risk, either directly through its programmes or indirectly through its services, must commit to a Safeguarding Policy. Arts Council will reserve the right to request sight of your organisation’s Safeguarding Policy.
National Lottery Project funded clients can apply to the Small Grants Programme as long as their National Lottery Project Funding award is deemed as complete.
We will issue you with a notification outlining the reason(s) for ineligibility. Unfortunately you will not be able to provide any missing enclosures or supplementary information after a notification of ineligibility has been issued. However you may wish to address the reasons for ineligibility and submit a new application if this is applicable to your project. Please remember ineligible applications have no bearing on any further applications you wish to make.
There is no prohibition on organisations applying to the National Lottery Project Funding programme if they are in receipt of Small Grants funding. However through National Lottery Project Funding we aim to distribute our funds as widely as possible and may take account in the assessment of any application the level of support the applicant organisation has previously received or is currently receiving at time of NLPF application.
Organisations do not need to provide annual accounts at time of application. We do however request annual accounts if successful in your application. If recently established organisations are unable to provide annual accounts, normally we request 3 months’ worth of original, consecutive bank statements (the most recent of which is not more than 3 months old) or for new groups which do not have 3 months’ worth of bank statements, all the statements that you have.
The maximum contribution ACNI will make towards artists/facilitator/tutor fees are set at the following rates:
£70 : Half Day
£125 : Full Day for 3 days or less
£545 : Full Week
You should keep these rates in mind when you are costing your project and calculating your request amount. Remember that you may not receive the full range of your request. For example, you may seek fees for 5 weeks of programme delivery, but may only be allocated costs for 4 weeks or less.
Different rates will apply depending on your artform. We would suggest that you refer to the industry rates for your particular artform (where appropriate).
Please find below links/information for Music, Drama & Dance and Visual Arts.
Music
https://musiciansunion.org.uk/rates
Drama and Dance
Rates of Pay – ITC (itc-arts.org)
Visual Art (in euro)
Visual Artists Payment Calculator – EURO | Visual Artists Ireland
The Arts Council staff list is on our website: http://artscouncil-ni.org/contact-us
We will aim to make a decision within two months of receiving your application – however, we cannot guarantee this and therefore you must not rely on receiving an outcome within that timeframe.
If you are applying far in advance of your project date, you may not receive the decision within 2 months, as we may prioritise the assessment of applications for projects which are happening sooner.
Yes. An amount of up to £3,000 each year is available within the grant for successful applicants who can clearly demonstrate that additional costs are associated with the delivery of their project for people with particular needs as defined under Section 75 of The Northern Ireland Act 1998. Should your application be successful, payment must be accounted for separately and will usually be paid retrospectively at the end of the project on detailed evidence of expenditure.
Accessibility costs can include:
- Signage
- Captioning
- Childcare
- Transport
- Training
- Speech-to-text
- Support worker costs
- Sign language interpretation (BSL and ISL)
- Translation
This list is not exhaustive and is only intended to illustrate the type of support funded in the past.
How to apply?
You MUST apply online. We will not accept applications in hard copy, by email or by fax.
Online applications may be edited, saved and returned to at any time until you submit. You MUST submit ALL mandatory enclosures associated with the application at the same time, i.e. at the point at which you submit your online application. The enclosures are listed within the online application, guidance notes and in the FAQs.
The online application allows you to upload and attach the necessary enclosures to your application. You must upload the following mandatory enclosures:
- Legal constitution of the applicant organisation
- Detailed project budget
IF you know which artists/facilitators/tutors/technical staff you intend to hire to deliver your project, you must also upload the following:
- CVs for the artists/facilitators/tutors - or technical staff you propose to employ as part of the project.
If you do not know who you intend to employ, and do not name or supply CVs for project staff, this may impact the overall decision on your application as the assessor will not be able to determine the quality of the project personnel.
Applicants must read the FAQs for more detail on these enclosures. All such documents must be in Word, Excel or pdf format. We cannot accept documents in other formats. Total size of documents should not exceed 25 Mb.
All of the information you provide will be held on computer. This information will be used for the administration of applications and grants, for producing statistics and information on successful applicants. Remember to keep a copy of the completed form and enclosures for your own records.