Do you need a secret millionaire?

A long blog silence, for which apologies. I have got some pics to put up when I'm back on the laptop from - one of them a sketch inspired by hearing Archbishop Rowan Williams in conversation with A. N. Wilson at the Hay Festival last week - but before all that I thought I'd share the good news for local charities out there...

If you've seen the show the Secret Millionaire, you'll be familiar with the way that people have offered money to community groups within particular localities. The Big lottery Fund and Channel 4 have now launched a new joint fund called the Secret Millionaire fund:

"The Big Lottery Fund and The Secret Millionaire have teamed up to give viewers of the programme a chance to act on the charitable inspiration fuelled by the show. Lottery funding worth £1 million has been lined up for people to apply for, or nominate projects to apply for grants of between £300 and £10,000 from the Secret Millionaire Fund.

From here you can nominate or apply for The Secret Millionaire Fund.

• nominate a community project.
  
  You can propose a community project or organisation you think would benefit from BIG funding. BIG will then contact the organisation to see if it is eligible to apply for this small grants scheme and send out the relevant information.
• apply directly.
  
  If you have an idea for a project that can bring real improvements to the lives of communities, and can pass a simple eligibility test (see information below), you can apply to Secret Millionaire Fund.

In both cases Lottery grants are awarded following an application and asseesment process which takes up to 8 weeks. For more information see the link to the right.

If your application to The Secret Millionaire Fund is successful Channel 4 (or RDF Media the production company who make the programme) might choose you for filming that will appear on the Secret Millionaire website and possibly in future editions of The Secret Millionaire. You will be asked to opt in to this at the point of application. Accepting or declining will not affect the outcome of your application."