£250,000 lottery cash to help community projects

A BIRMINGHAM charity has been awarded £250,000 of National Lottery funding for community projects across the city.

LoveBrum will work in partnership with the Big Lottery Fund to share funding expertise and networks to provide more funding to projects.

Part of the grant will enable it to more than double its full-time workforce and recruit an executive director and administrator.

The new director will focus on the strategic direction of the charity and work alongside the board of trustees who currently look after project engagement, events, fundraising, membership and marketing.

A total of £50,000 of the funding will also be added into a pot for good causes to be awarded to small groups in Birmingham which are not yet known beyond their community. A funding manager from the Big Lottery Fund will join LoveBrum’s causes committee as part of the new partnership to help identify new projects.

Together they are aiming to profile around 40 causes per year, with 12 receiving £2,000 funding complemented by a year’s business support.

These will be promoted as part of a monthly vote where members find out about a cause every week and vote for their favourite.

LoveBrum was launched at the beginning of 2015 with support from the Regional Development Fund capital.

Judith Armstrong, chief executive of Millennium Point and a LoveBrum Trustee, said: “Until now, we’ve relied on just one full-time and one parttime member of staff who deliver amazing work alongside our volunteer trustees and committees but we really need a dedicated executive director who can help drive things forward.

“Thanks to National Lottery players, the £250,000 will help us build an infrastructure behind the charity that will make it sustainable so it’s not just good news for LoveBrum but for Birmingham and all of the projects we will be able to keep funding.”