Windrush 75: how to strengthen your Black History Month application
Katie Ayre, Funding Officer, shares advice on how to strengthen your National Lottery Awards for All application for Windrush 75 activities and events during Black History Month.
The 75th anniversary of Windrush this year is a wonderful opportunity to commemorate and pay respect to the incredible legacy created by the Windrush pioneers.
Although it is now too late to apply in time for Windrush Day itself, at The National Lottery Community Fund we are still here to help you and your community make the most of this momentous year.
Thanks to National Lottery players, grants of up to £10,000 are available throughout 2023 for community-led events and activities designed to commemorate this historic occasion.
We understand that some communities will commemorate Windrush 75 as part of Black History Month in October, and this is something our funding may be able to support.
Much like we did in our Carnival application advice blog, here are three top tips to strengthen a Black History Month application.
- Tell us how your community has been involved in deciding that Windrush 75 should be commemorated as part of Black History Month and how they will be involved in planning and delivering the project.
This information can come from community meetings, online polls, social media discussions, or having community members on your board, as trustees or as volunteers.
Applications often assume that we will already know this, but we can only assess your application on the information you give us so make sure you tell us this clearly.
For example, if your application says you have spoken to the community and they were keen to get involved and support this project, but you provide no other details as to how and when you did this or how the community had actively shaped this project, this is less likely to be funded as we cannot clearly see how you have involved the community. - Show us how your project will help your community - using history as a vehicle to make a difference and fulfil our aims.
Many applications are unsuccessful because they appear to be primarily focussed on delivering information and education and not focussed on our aims, such as helping the community build better relationships or helping people achieve their potential sooner.
We need to see the longer-term difference your project is making to the community in its commemoration of Windrush 75 and how learning more about history shall do this.
For example, if you want to run weekly historical podcasts or virtual tours of areas of historical value, then we will need to see how this fulfils our aims. This might be connecting people who wouldn’t otherwise meet. It could be providing activities that bring together people of different ages, backgrounds and cultures. It could be tackling isolation or loneliness. It could be many things, but we are looking for communities to be better connected as a result of the project. Your application should tell us clearly how it meets at least one of our aims. - Use our website to help you with your application. We understand that putting together an application can be tedious and time consuming. Our application form is simple and straight forward, but I would encourage every applicant to visit their local National Lottery Awards for All webpage and thoroughly read our advice and guidance:
England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
It’s tempting to skip over things, but the strongest applications are the ones that have read everything before they apply and clearly demonstrate what we are looking for. Read our short guide that will help you to avoid some common pitfalls. Also take a look at our series of Windrush 75 Awards for All advice videos, which talk you through various aspects of an application including eligibility criteria and what bank statements are required.
I would strongly encourage applicants to access useful resources from our recent Windrush 75 grant application clinics. Read our PowerPoint slides to find out more about applying for National Lottery Awards for All. We’ve also collated the most frequently asked questions and our answers – have a read through and your question may be answered!