Beneficiary involvement in funding processes at BIG

This report presents findings of research undertaken on behalf of the Big Lottery Fund (BIG)* to explore beneficiary involvement in funding processes. This would be useful to any funder considering beneficiary involvement.

Key findings:

• Approaches to beneficiary involvement in funding processes at BIG vary according to the purpose, intensity and methods of involvement, as well as the nature of the beneficiary group. There is no single, simple solution.
• The idea of ‘invited spaces’ can help to shed light on the dynamics of beneficiary involvement at BIG: beneficiaries are invited to participate in BIG’s space – i.e. the already established funding development framework.
• We suggested that BIG should maintain its flexible approach to beneficiary involvement and continue to avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach. However, there is a common set of areas for consideration in successfully involving and supporting beneficiaries and our report offers a draft framework to support BIG in future involvement of beneficiaries in funding processes.

*Big Lottery Fund is now called The National Lottery Community Fund.