Paying for the Olympics by raiding charity money

8.17.00am GMT Fri 2nd Feb 2007

The Government may divert further lottery funding to meet the rising infrastructure costs of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The National Council of Voluntary Organisation (NCVO) is seeking your support for their campaign to find alternative means of funding the overspend.

In November 2006, the Culture Secretary stated that the cost of the Olympic Park had risen from £2.4 billion to £3.3 billion, and failed to rule out the possibility that this £900m shortfall will be met by taking funds from the National Lottery. This could mean that the Big Lottery Fund would lose out on £450m, and voluntary and community organisations could miss out on over £300m.

I have worked with many organisations that have benefited from Lottery money and hate to think how they would have managed with out the money.

The NCVO are calling on people to:

Write to your Member of Parliament encouraging them to raise this urgently with Ministers;

Write to local newspaper raising concerns about the diversion of further Lottery funding; and

Communicate your concerns to others in the sector.

Further information, including draft letters for members to adapt, is available on their website, see below for link.

Related Link:

Visit the NCVO's website and help their campaign