UK Lottery Fund - is S4ME eligible to apply?

[Alvin]

This thread has been split from:

https://s4me.info/threads/action-fo...-that-affects-its-views-about-treatment.3358/

It has received substantial funds over the last 20 years from the Big Lottery Fund which uses national lottery money to fund charities.

Interesting, i wonder what are the requirements to sign up for this?
Could a UK based member start the S4ME charity to lobby for patient centric science based advocacy?

 

[Andy]

Interesting, i wonder what are the requirements to sign up for this?
Could a UK based member start the S4ME charity to lobby for patient centric science based advocacy?

Over 10 years ago I was involved in a small local charity which applied successfully several times for Lottery funds. Unless things have changed significantly since that time, it's probably more accurate to describe the Big Lottery Fund as funds which are potentially available to enable charities to do more, rather than generically supporting them i.e. the funds aren't there to prop up charities that can't survive by themselves. So an application for funds would need to be for a specific project which the charity couldn't fund themselves. A couple of additional hurdles, this type of funding is, or at least was, aimed at benefiting UK residents, which could be difficult for S4ME to prove, and all of this, of course, relies on S4ME being a charity - this possibility is on the committees to-do list but is not yet a definite goal for us.

And obviously this is all off topic.

 

[Alvin]

Over 10 years ago I was involved in a small local charity which applied successfully several times for Lottery funds. Unless things have changed significantly since that time, it's probably more accurate to describe the Big Lottery Fund as funds which are potentially available to enable charities to do more, rather than generically supporting them i.e. the funds aren't there to prop up charities that can't survive by themselves. So an application for funds would need to be for a specific project which the charity couldn't fund themselves. A couple of additional hurdles, this type of funding is, or at least was, aimed at benefiting UK residents, which could be difficult for S4ME to prove, and all of this, of course, relies on S4ME being a charity - this possibility is on the committees to-do list but is not yet a definite goal for us.

The forum does not have the be the charity, it can just have a related name and be affiliated, right?
And benefiting UK residents is not hard (if pushing PACE is considered a benefit then actual science should be an easier sell), the mission statement can say the charity's goal is to ensure science is heard in ME/CFS treatment (or something similar). As for enabling them to do more thats not a huge deal, a few projects need to be set up and if money is given then it can be used to expand them or start new ones. All this being worked out before putting the charity together of course.

And obviously this is all off topic.

Indeed, perhaps worthy of being broken into its own thread if anyone is interested?

 

[Trish]

As for enabling them to do more thats not a huge deal, a few projects need to be set up and if money is given then it can be used to expand them or start new ones. All this being worked out before putting the charity together of course.

I'm not sure why S4ME would want to apply for lottery funds. We are a patient/carer/scientist/doctor/supporter forum for communication, mutual support and learning. As far as advocacy projects go, we have signed up as a stakeholder in the NICE guidelines for ME, and have supported the publication on this site of a couple of documents written voluntarily by members. Neither of these cost us money.

We are not geared up for, nor do I think we are the right sort of organisation for running advocacy projects or research projects that would cost the sort of money we could apply for from lottery funds. What we can do is provide a space for people organising such projects to meet, discuss, share ideas and tell us about what they are doing.

I hope we can get enough from donations from members to support the running costs of keeping the forum going providing we can continue to find volunteers to do so.

And this probably does belong on a different thread. I've just remembered this thread is about AfME and its organisation and funding.

 

[Alvin]

I'm not sure why S4ME would want to apply for lottery funds. We are a patient/carer/scientist/doctor/supporter forum for communication, mutual support and learning. As far as advocacy projects go, we have signed up as a stakeholder in the NICE guidelines for ME, and have supported the publication on this site of a couple of documents written voluntarily by members. Neither of these cost us money.

We are not geared up for, nor do I think we are the right sort of organisation for running advocacy projects or research projects that would cost the sort of money we could apply for from lottery funds. What we can do is provide a space for people organising such projects to meet, discuss, share ideas and tell us about what they are doing.

I hope we can get enough from donations from members to support the running costs of keeping the forum going providing we can continue to find volunteers to do so.

And this probably does belong on a different thread. I've just remembered this thread is about AfME and its organisation and funding.

What i meant are any UK based forum members interested in creating a new organization (that can apply for funds) whose goal is to advocate for science based research and treatments in the UK, who would by default speak out against PACE and psychological treatments based on actual science and support UK based initiatives to prevent harm currently being done to patients in the UK and advocating for further resources towards (science) based research.

 

[Trish]

What i meant are any UK based forum members interested in creating a new organization (that can apply for funds) whose goal is to advocate for science based research and treatments in the UK, who would by default speak out against PACE and psychological treatments based on actual science and support UK based initiatives to prevent harm currently being done to patients in the UK and advocating for further resources towards (science) based research.

We already have the ME Association, Invest in ME Research, ME Research UK, ME Action, and probably other local organisations I'm not aware of doing these things.

I'm not sure what the point would be of setting up yet another organisation, but anyone is free to do so, and to tell us about it and discuss it on these forums if they want to.

My point was that it's not the role of the forum management committee to initiate such a move, or to oversee it if some members decide they want to do it in our name. I think the forum's strength lies in its single focus of providing a good well managed and moderated forum that enables communication and action. It would probably be a mistake try to become more than that. But that's just my personal view.

Edit to add: If someone wanted to use the S4ME name or set up and 'affiliated' charity it would have to be closely scrutinised and approved by our committee and membership, and effectively to be run in conjunction with S4ME, which doesn't seem practical to me. It's not part of our present remit, and would change the nature and international basis of S4ME.

 

[Alvin]

We already have the ME Association, Invest in ME Research, ME Research UK, ME Action, and probably other local organisations I'm not aware of doing these things.

Fair enough, i don't know much about these organizations but are they eligible to apply for this possible funding?