PRESS RELEASES
8/14/2001
R25,4m ALLOCATED TO 78 MORE BENEFICIARIES OF NATIONAL LOTTERY FUNDING
A further R25,4m from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) has been allocated to 78 more organisations following last week's adjudication meetings of the Distributing Agencies for Arts, Culture and National Heritage; and Sport and Recreation.

“Positive progress is being made and a difference will be made to the lives of all South Africans”, said Joe Foster, Chairperson of the National Lotteries Board. “Each of the categories have their own list of applications and their own budgets. The Members of the different Distributing Agencies appreciate the urgency and the need of our people and are making every effort to adjudicate the applications as quickly and as fairly as possible”.

The Arts, Culture and National Heritage Distributing Agency met on 31st July and 8th August 2001 to adjudicate on the first 101 of the 902 applications received for this category. After due consideration, the first 17 organisations that have met the qualifying requirements have been identified and R5,2m allocated from the immediately available R40million in this category.

Priority areas identified by the Arts and Culture sector were organisations that were involved in the production of cultural products, education, training, skills transfer, building new audiences and increasing public access to the arts. The National Heritage sector looked at those involved in cleanup operations, the planting of indigenous flora, youth environmental education projects and those who were involved in the sharing of experiences and resources with the less advantaged.

The Members of the Sport and Recreation Distributing Agency met on 1st and 2nd August, to adjudicate the first 108 of the 564 applications they had received. Of these, 61 organisations found to meet the criteria were identified and a total of R20,2m was allocated to them from the R40million immediately available to this category.

In the Sport and Recreation category, the focus was on existing clubs and facilities that lacked equipment; the upgrading and renovation of existing facilities; and training programmes for capacity building for coaches, managers, administrators etc. Special consideration was given to sporting organisations that were of benefit to people in rural areas; women; the youth, the disabled; and the aged.
This process of adjudication will continue until all the applications acknowledged have been adjudicated. All successful applicants will be contacted in writing and the names of the beneficiaries will only be made public after the verification process has been completed and Funding Agreements signed. In certain instances, the Compliance Team of the National Lotteries Board will make site visits.

Organisations are warned to be aware of bogus “Compliance Officers” claiming they represent the Board and who demand transport and meals. The National Lotteries Board will make all arrangements for site visits and every officer will present a photo ID.

The Distributing Agency for Charities has already adjudicated on 104 applications and is scheduled to meet later next week to adjudicate on more of the applications they received by the 18th May 2001 deadline.

All applicants that have made timeous submissions to access funding from the NLDTF are urged to deem their applications still under consideration until they receive notification informing them otherwise. Once the process has been completed, a further call for applications will be made together with the qualifying criteria.