Community Radio Fund: award of grants for 2007/08 Round 2

Published 08|02|08

Ofcom's Community Radio Fund Panel met on Wednesday 30 January to consider applications for the second round of grant awards for 2007/08. In summary, at the time of the meeting:

• £160,399 was available for the second round in the financial year 2007/08 (the Panel had allocated £304,625 in the first round, and DCMS had allocated £35,000 for alternative community media projects).
• 52 applications were considered
• Funding applications totalled £1,376,780.06
• 12 applicants were awarded grants which totalled £160,390.
• 40 applicants were not awarded a grant

Second round of applications for funding in 2007/08

The Panel reviewed each application and awarded funding based on the information provided, and with reference to the Community Radio Fund guidance notes. The Panel’s decisions were for:

• a full award;
• a partial award; or
• not to award any funding.

The average grant in this round was £13,365, with a maximum of £16,000.

A table setting out the awards is at the end of this statement.

Issues of note arising from the Panel meeting

The Panel wishes to draw attention to a number of issues that arose during their deliberations:

• The Panel has fixed no upper limit for grant applications but would expect applicants to take note of the history of applications and awards, which is in the public domain, when considering making future applications.
• Due to the large number of applications the Panel gave priority to those stations which had not previously received an award.
• The Panel also took into account the level of need of individual stations. These latter two points meant that there were a number of stations which submitted high quality applications that the Panel was unable to award grants to.
• The Panel was concerned that, as with previous funding rounds, some applicants appeared to be unaware of the Fund Panel’s priorities as set out in the Panel’s statements and the Fund notes of guidance (for example, in the Fund notes of guidance section 1.2 ‘What is the Fund for?’ and Annex A ‘Exclusions List’).
• The Panel also noted that a number of applications suffered from a lack of clarity in answering some of the questions.
• Finally, a number of applicants for this round had been awarded a grant in the first round of this financial year, however the notes of guidance make it clear that the Panel will not normally consider additional applications in the same financial year as a previous award.

Priorities

The Panel wishes to continue to make grants for core activities, particularly to newly-licensed stations, in line with guidance from DCMS. The Panel considers promoting long-term sustainability a critical, core activity, and will take special note of innovative proposals that have this aim, such as those focusing on business development and fund-raising. The Panel also believes there is scope for more collaborative working or joint applications from stations.

Applications for the first round of funding in 2008/09

• Applications will be invited on 10 April 2008.
• The closing-date for applications will be four weeks later, i.e. 7 May 2008.
• The Panel will meet to make decisions on these applications on 18 June 2008.
• At the time of publication, Ofcom cannot confirm how much money will be available to the Fund during the financial year 2008/09 as Ofcom understands that DCMS may use some of the Fund for alternative community media projects.

Applicants are usually eligible to receive funding from only one Community Radio Fund grant round in each financial year, and the Panel will give priority to those applicants who have not received funding in previous years.

Summary of grants awarded in the second round for 2007/08