Biffa Award - Important Changes to its Funding

The Biffa Award has funded a range of community and environmental projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland through its Large and Small Grants schemes since it was set up in 1997 under the Landfill Communities Fund.
As the amount of funding it receives through the Landfill Communities Fund is decreasing, however, and given that the Biffa Award scheme is ‘heavily oversubscribed’, the Award has felt it necessary to make the following changes:

• All Community Buildings and Recreation (ENTRUST D and E) projects must be within 5 miles (previously it was 7 miles) of a Biffa operation and 10 miles of any landfill sites or 10 miles of an active Biffa Landfill site.
• All Rebuilding Biodiversity (ENTRUST DA) projects must be within 15 miles of a Biffa operation.
• Biffa Award will now have one grant scheme where applicants can apply for between £10,000 and £75,000 (previously it was £50,000), with the project total cost not exceeding £200,000 inclusive of VAT.
• The Cultural Facilities theme will no longer be open to applications through the Main and Small Grants Schemes; instead Biffa will support heritage projects through its Partnership Scheme project with the Association of Independent Museums.
• The Smalls Grant Scheme has closed.

The application deadlines have changed. There will be three board meetings per year, where two themes will be reviewed at each meeting. The applicant’s grants officer will advise which meeting the project will be taken to and advise on application deadline dates accordingly.
The following dates are to be confirmed:

• October 2016 – Community Buildings and Rebuilding Biodiversity
• February 2017 – Rebuilding Biodiversity and Recreation
• June 2017 – Recreation and Community Buildings

Application deadlines will be timetabled throughout the year, in line with the meeting schedule above.

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