Community Radio Fund: award of grants for 2009/10 Round 1

Published 14|07|09

Ofcom's Community Radio Fund Panel met on Monday 29 June 2009 to consider applications for the first round of grant awards for the 2009/10 financial year. In summary, at the time of the meeting:

• The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) allocated £460,000 towards the Community Radio Fund for 2009/10 (a further £40,000 has been allocated to other community radio projects).
• 61 applications were considered.
• 1 application was not considered as the station concerned had not yet returned a Community Radio Fund grant report to Ofcom following a previous grant award.
• Funding applications totalled £1,246,802.
• 15 applicants were awarded grants which totalled £233,460.
• 47 applicants were not awarded a grant.

First round of applications for funding in 2009/10

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 £15,564. 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:

• Owing to the large number of applications and the amount of funding available, the Panel gave priority to applications from stations that had not previously received an award.  Indeed, for the foreseeable future the Panel expects only to be able to support stations with a single grant, therefore it is crucial that stations make the best available use of a grant from the Fund. The Panel notes that many previously successful applicants are reapplying for support for the posts for which they have already had grants. The Panel considers the promotion of long-term sustainability a critical aim of the Fund and therefore advises grant recipients to effectively utilise the funding they receive to maintain their own viability, as the Panel is not currently in a position to support a post with more than one grant.
• The Panel has noticed an increasing tendency for applicants to apply for fractions of multiple posts, which could be interpreted as an attempt to get a block grant rather than a grant for a specific defined purpose. The Panel accepts that there may occasionally be an exceptional reason for an applicant to apply for part-funding for multiple posts, but in general the Panel would prefer to support single clearly defined posts; where multiple purposes are applied for they must be clearly prioritised.
• 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.
• The Panel took into account the level of need of individual stations. This consideration, alongside the Panel’s prioritisation of applicants that had not previously received a grant, meant that there were a number of stations which submitted high quality applications to which the Panel was unable to award a grant.
• However, the Panel also noted that a number of applications suffered from a lack of clarity in answering some of the questions, and would remind applicants that, because of the competitive nature of the process, the standard of applications needs to be high.
• 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’).
• One further point the Panel noted was with regard to where stations seek funding.  Few stations appear to be making use of the extremely valuable resource they have – free airtime – to appeal for funds from their target community to support their radio station (subject to the requirements of the Broadcasting Code). Such activity might significantly increase the funds available to stations and is used by the community media sector in other countries.  

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 was able to support one particularly innovative application in this funding round, with a grant that will support the continued development of the Community Radio Toolkit, a valuable free resource that will have a positive impact across the sector. The Panel also believes there is scope for more collaborative working or joint applications from stations and was pleased to be able to make an award to two joint applications in this round.

Applications for the second round of funding in 2009/10

• A total of £226,540 remains in the Fund for the financial year 2009/10. Applications for the second round will be invited in October 2009, with a closing date in November and decisions in January 2010 (dates to be confirmed).
  
• The Panel will give priority to those applicants who have not received funding in previous years.

Summary of grants awarded in the first round for 2009/10

* The Fundraising Officer post will support the Scottish Community Broadcasting Network which includes many of Scotland’s community radio stations. Therefore the Panel considered it was a particularly effective use of the Community Radio Fund.

** The Joint Sustainability Officer post will serve both IÚR-fm and Blast FM

*** The Community Radio Toolkit is a free, in-depth resource available to all community radio stations; therefore the Panel considered that this grant would serve to increase the capabilities of many stations.