Lottery board cuts aid

CASH-STRAPPED charities expressed their appreciation for funds received from the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) after submitting their applications in March of 2011.

Local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as LifeLine Zululand and Zululand Hospice were among those exhaling a sigh of relief after NLDTF distributed a budget of R2 billion to 14 000 applicants nationwide.

‘We only received 41% of the full amount we applied for, but it is still a lot more than we had before,’ said LifeLine Director Sue Stephenson.

‘This money will provide LifeLine with a new vehicle and help to cover costs for the day-to-day running of the organisation and programme activities such as Project Dignity, which gives disadvantaged young women in rural areas access to reusable sanitary products.’

Zululand Hospice Chairman Thami Ndlela said they happily accepted 75% of the total application in December.

‘It was a reasonable amount that will help us tremendously in extending a helping hand to terminally ill patients in this region.’

National Lotteries Board (NLB) Chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda said an increasingly high number of applications came flooding in from welfare, arts, culture, heritage, environment, sports and recreation bodies around the country.

‘In the last call for applications, we received an excess of 14 000 funding applications requesting R40 billion from the NLDTF.’

Nevhutanda expressed concern that many hopefuls wished for idealistically large amounts, which played a role in the turnaround times for 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 charities sector, which closed in December 2012, 52% of the applications have so far been finalised.