As the
largest funder of NGOs in South Africa, the National Lotteries Board (NLB)
receives an increasingly high number of applications for funding from welfare,
arts, culture, heritage, environment, sports and recreation bodies with every
call for applications.
“In the
last call for applications, we received in excess of 14,000 funding
applications requesting R40 billion from the National Lottery Distribution
Trust Fund (NLDTF). The budget of the NLDTF is in the region of R2 billion per
annum,” said Prof Alfred Nevhutanda, Chairperson of the NLB.
The
increase in the number of applications is as a result of the nationwide
information sharing workshops and helpdesks that were set up by the NLB at the
time of the calls for application.
Nevhutanda
expressed concern at the level of dependence that NGOs place on the NLDTF. The
large number of applications and the larger amounts that are requested play a
role in the turnaround times of applications.
“We urge
applicants to present more focused applications rather than submitting their
entire project budget to the NLDTF for funding”, said Nevhutanda. “We have to
spread lottery funding as wide as possible so that all South African NGOs
benefit from this Government initiated funding drive.”
In the
Arts, Culture and National Heritage sector (closing date 18 April 2013), 17% of
the applications had been adjudicated at the time of this press release which was
February 11, 2014.
Unaudited
allocations in the Arts, Culture and National Heritage sector in the period April
1 to December 31, 2013, represents 97 grants with an amount of R423 million
allocated.
“The new
legislation signed by President Zuma in December, 2013, makes provision for
full-time Distributing Agencies. This will help speed up the adjudication
process. We will also look at more targeted calls in the areas that receive
less funding,” added Nevhutanda.
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