Purpose

The Thanet Community Lotto was created in 2017 by Thanet
District Council and was set up to
support community projects in the local area. The Lotto operates on
the principle of raising money within the community for the
community. It empowers local good causes to raise money in a fun
and effective way.

 

Thanet Community Lotto enables people to
support the causes they care most about, helping good causes to
connect with their supporters.

 

A ticket for the Thanet Community Lotto
costs £1 per week and 60p will go directly to good causes in
Thanet. Even better, Lotto players
can choose which Thanet good cause gets 50p of the 60p. The Thanet
Community Lotto helps over
80 local good causes to generate a regular income. The
remaining 10p goes in a central pot for good causes. This has been
accumulating with approximately £70,000 accumulated since the
Lotto started.
 
During April 2024  the council's Cabinet and
Corporate Management Team agreed  to set-up a grants programme
using funds from the Thanet Community Lotto good causes pot. It was
proposed that the Thanet Community Lotto Grants programme should be
available to cover all wards of Thanet with a simple and accessible
eligibility criteria for most not-for-profit organisations, subject
to the normal council grant protocols.
 
The headline criteria was for the grants to deliver
activities that support Pride in Place and delivered by ‘good
causes’ in Thanet. The Fund covered all wards in Thanet and
therefore available to apply to for Voluntary, Community and Social
Enterprise organisations and communities of Thanet. To be
successful applicants had to be based in, and serve Thanet
residents. The grants were up to a maximum of
£2,000.
 
The grant programme was launched in September 2024
and closed in October. Through an open process, grant applications
were invited and sent to the council for the Thanet Community Lotto
Grants Fund. 63 applications were received and shortlisted using
the published criteria, which were:-

All sections of the application form have been fully
completed with the relevant information. 

Successful applicants must be based in and serve
Thanet. The project must take place in Thanet. 

Project aligned with ‘Pride in Place’
ethos.

 
Any project or organisation that did not achieve the
criteria were automatically failed, not shortlisted and therefore
not considered by the Lotto Grants Review Panel.
 
A panel of three staff members was set-up to review
the bids against the key criteria, with the Corporate Directors
forming the approval panel, reviewing the recommendations and
providing sign-off of the grant awards. 
 
The ambition is that this could become an annual
grant programme, depending on the funding gained through the Thanet
Community Lotto. Learnings will be taken from the delivery of this
round of funding to inform future years.

Decision

 
All shortlisted projects were scored and
reviewed by the Lotto Grants Review Panel and approved by the
Director’s Panel on 13 November 2024. 
 
Applications totalled  
£113,140
Awarded projects total 
£90,181.05
of which  
£31,976.79 are youth projects
 
Breakdown of budget
allocation
 

Total projects 

£90,181.05

Agreed to be funded

Lotto budget

£71,864.00

as at 4 November 2024

Shortfall

£18,317.05

UKSPF - People and Skills Intervention to
cover some of the youth projects

£18,317.05

Youth opportunities is a priority area for Thanet
District Council. 
Separate officer decision notice

 
The following grants have been awarded as part
of the Thanet Community Lotto Grant Fund, which includes some of
the youth focussed projects being funded by the UK Shared
Prosperity Fund. Youth Projects are shown in bold.
 

Total awarded  £90,181.05

Organisation

Project Title

Amount Awarded

Broadstairs Folk Week

60th Anniversary Reusable Cup Children's Competition
design and production2025

£1,600.00

The Hive Thanet CIC

Boccia
Equipment

£500.00

Oasis Domestic Abuse Service

Home Starter Pack for adults and children fleeing
domestic abuse

£1,995.00

Academy FM Thanet

Radio Presenters Training Programme

£1,680.00

POW Thanet

Community mural

£2,000.00

Arts Education Exchange

Access and Therapy fund for our creative
programme

£2,000.00

East Kent Mencap

Margate Hub Kitchen

£1,890.00

Thanet Lions Club (CIO)

Food hampers/vouchers for families in need for
distribution at Christmas

£2,000.00

Net Gain Communities CIC

Spencer Gore Grave Restoration - The First Wimbledon
Champion

£2,000.00

Free2Play CIC

Santa's (gaming) Workshops

£2,000.00

Thanet Community Development Trust Ltd

Community Connections at Christmas

£2,000.00

The Zone Youth Club,
Broadstairs

Trips Out for Kids

£2,000.00

Well Projects C.I.C.

‘Climate Historian Here’ arts &
ecology workshops for children and families with printed matter
outcomes

£1,770.00

Wildernesstowonderland

Nurturing and developing Community Gardening groups,
promoting Civic Pride, Diversity and Inclusion.

£2,000.00

1st Westgate Scout Group

Construction of new stores
building

£2,000.00

1st St Lawrence Scouts

Summer Camp Costs

£1,000.00

6th Ramsgate Royal Harbour Sea Scout
Group

Ice House renovation

£2,000.00

Broadstairs Town Team

Community Green Spaces in Broadstairs

£1,070.00

Thanet Judokwai

Representing Thanet Judokwai Young People: At Home &
Away

£2,000.00

Ramsgate Skatepark Project

Ramsgate Skatepark Basketball Court
Refurbishment

£2,000.00

The Dreamland Heritage Trust

Cultural Custodians development programme

£2,000.00

Sunken Garden Society

New Bench

£1,750.00

Margate Carnival Group

Christmas in Margate - staging and
equipment

£1,500.00

Newgate Gap CIC

FLINTS Coastal Connection

£2,000.00

Thanet Disabled Riding Centre

Subsidise 3 Disabled Riders for 12
months

£1,500.00

Birchington Village Centre Organisation

Fire Proofing Stage Curtains

£2,000.00

Open School East

Home is where the Garden is

£2,000.00

Thanet Parkour Academy CIC

Jump into Parkour training

£1,443.46

Thanet Youth Network

Thanet Youth Network

£2,000.00

Westgate on Sea Town Council

Redesign and Rebuild of Lymington Road Skate Park,
Westgate-on-Sea

£2,000.00

Expression Arts CIC

Pride in Cliftonville Mural Project

£2,000.00

Discovery Planet C.I.C.

Happy Mondays: Proud of our Town and our
Community

£2,000.00

Medaille
Trust

Grow for Hope

£1,877.00

Thanet Big Sing Community Choir C.I.C.

"Let us entertain you"

£1,785.00

Windmill Community Gardens Margate

Planet-Based

£1,623.26

Birchington Parish Council

Memorial Recreation Ground
Project

£2,000.00

Pie Factory Music

Earn-a-Bike scheme

£2,000.00

Cliffsend Youth Club

Cliffsend Youth Club

£1,000.00

Margate Sea Cadets

Marching Band Equipment

£1,987.33

Thanet Countryside Trust

Widening Access to Nature

£2,000.00

LOOPING THE LOOP CIC

Making a Community Play for Thanet

£1,950.00

Ark Cliftonville Cultural
Space

VeseleDete ( Fun Kids in
Czech)

£2,000.00

Aim4 Partnerships CiC

Chill Club Crafters

£1,210.00

The Social Justice Network

Break the Cycle community cohesion & community
gardening project

£1,900.00

Imago Community

Thanet Young Carers

£1,336.00

Friends of Ellington Park CIO

Garden Square (informally Friends Garden)

£2,000.00

Bags of Taste Thanet

Bags of Taste Thanet Family Home Cooking
Project

£2,000.00

Community Creative Studios CIC

Make and Meet

£1,814.00

Col's Kent Bike Tours CIC

Family Rides for Health and Connection

£2,000.00

Margate Radio

Spotlight on Margate Community Champions

£2,000.00

 

Reasons for the decision

Following the published grant allocation
process the Lotto Grant Review Panel and subsequently the
Director’s Panel reached their decision to award the grants
as stated above.
 
The Thanet Lotto Fund’s balance is
£71,864.00 (as at 4/11/24) and all of this will be allocated
to fund the Lotto Fund projects as stated above.
 
The Thanet Lotto Fund was oversubscribed and
it was agreed to allocate £18,317.05 from the UK Shared
Prosperity Fund, People and Skills budget to make up the
shortfall.  The projects funded will be
the youth focussed projects.  A separate
Officer Decision Notice was published to document this separate
officer decision.
 
The Director’s Panel confirmed their
agreement to accept the recommendations of the Officer Grant Review
Panel and award grants accordingly.
 
Both Panels were delighted to receive
applications for a wide range of projects that enhance pride in
place in the district and look forward to hearing the progress and
impact they have had on our communities. Following project
delivery, further information will be sent to the council as part
of the monitoring process.

Alternative options considered

An alternative was to allocate the funding in
a different way and not to create a grant funding programme for the
Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector with the monies
allocated to good causes. This was rejected on the basis that the
funding should be allocated to good causes and this was the fairest
and most transparent way to allocate the funding to support as many
projects across Thanet as possible.
 
A second alternative was to keep accumulating
the funding and not allocate it to a grants programme. This was
rejected on the basis that the money was provided into the Thanet
Lotto Fund to support good causes in Thanet, and continuing to
accumulate the funding did not support the ethos of the Lotto.