The Funding Process

The processing and awarding of grants involves a number of steps.

In line with the amendment of the Lotteries Act, grants have now been categorized into three sizes:

Applicants are only eligible to apply for a new grant after 12 months from date of receipt of funds.

In order to respond to the challenges of poverty and inequality and align with the National Development Plan (NDP), as well as to demonstrate the relevance of NLC funding, regulations published in April 2015 allow the Commission to pursue two modes of funding:

• Application-based funding (as has been the case since 2001)
• Proactive funding (in line with Government’s plans)

Proactive funding will help the Commission to support innovative projects with greater impact and emergency support for natural and other disasters among others.

The administrative work is undertaken by the Central Applications Office, the decisions on awarding or declining of grants that are made by the Distributing Agencies for the various sectors, and the contractual arrangements which are managed by the Legal Division.

The process is set out in the diagram and notes presented below:

Notes To Diagram

Administrative groundwork

• The Registry receives all applications made. Incomplete, late, faxed or emailed applications are returned to the applicant.
• Complete applications submitted within the deadline are then captured on the management system and assessed.

Adjudication of applications

• The adjudication of each application by the relevant Distributing Agency then takes place.
• Applications that are granted funding are sent to the Legal Division for preparation of a grant agreement.
• Where applications are declined funding, this information is sent to the applicant together with reasons for the decision.
• Every unsuccessful applicant has the right to appeal against the decision of the Distributing Agency. (See Appeals process below)

Finalising contracts

• The Legal Division translates the decision of the Distributing Agency into a Grant Agreement that is sent to the successful applicant.
• The applicant signs the Grant Agreement and returns it to the Legal Division.  The funding arrangement is now operational.

Appeals process

• An applicant whose grant application has been turned down may submit an appeal to the Appeals Committee of the National Lotteries Commission if they believe that the reason for decline is unjustified.
• The appeal process is not a means to correct errors e.g. if the application was declined because financial statements were not submitted, the applicant cannot submit the financial statements with the appeal and expect to be successful in the appeal.
• If the Appeals Committee considers that the Distributing Agency erred in its decision to decline a grant, it will refer the application back to the agency for reconsideration. The Distribution Agency may either confirm its earlier decision or decide to award a grant.