FEATURE
DECADE of
dreams People’s Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund is ten years old. To celebrate a decade of dreams, Laura Chow, Head of Charities, chooses her top five inspirational winners.
T
HE Dream Fund challenges charities across the UK to think big, be bold and innovate. For ambitious charities, it’s the chance to bring their dream project to life in partnership with others.
In the course of the decade since the Dream Fund launched in 2010, 32 winners have been awarded a total of more than £16 million. The size of the funding pot has expanded every year, from £350,000 in its first year to a whopping £4 million in 2020. And the size of the awards has grown substantially too since the first £98,000 was awarded for Edinburgh’s Innertube project. The most
recent Dream Fund winner – the Wild Oysters project, a partnership between the Zoological Society of London, Blue Marine Foundation and British Marine – was awarded a game-changing £1.18 million in August this year. So, what makes a successful Dream Fund application? Our winners demonstrate a truly innovative approach to tackling a challenging social or environmental issue, and work in (often diverse) partnership. They are also expected to create a legacy with the help of the funding they’ve received thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
1 INNERTUBE
LED BY: THE BIKE STATION
The very first Dream Fund winner, back in 2011, was chosen from four finalists and awarded £98,000. The project aimed to promote active travel in Edinburgh by mapping the city’s extensive network of off-street cycle paths for the first time and in a user-friendly way, in the style of the iconic London tube map. Innertube attracted attention because it was creative, educational, informative and aligned with green travel and health and wellbeing priorities. With hindsight, it has also proven to have longevity. Engaging and very practical, the map is still in use and an updated edition was recently published. innertubemap.com
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G IVI N G | DECEMBER 2020
