DOZENS of voluntary and community organisations that have been impacted due to the Covid pandemic are being boosted with hundreds of thousands of pounds of grant funding from Dorset Council.

The council launched its new Organisational Revenue Support Fund for cultural, voluntary and community sector organisations to gain revenue support in October last year.

The authority has now announced that 17 voluntary and community organisations across Dorset will begin to receive funding in the new financial year.

From April 1, £115,500 will be given out to the organisations which include The Nest social supermarket in Weymouth, Bridport Youth and Community Centre, Footprints and Dorset Search and Rescue.

Councillor Jill Haynes, Dorset Council portfolio holder for customer and community services, said: "I'm delighted Dorset Council is able to offer this support to some of the county's cultural, voluntary and community organisations, despite pressure on our budgets, as we know they play such a key part in the health, wellbeing and learning of so many people."

The Organisational Revenue Support Fund is the first of three new rounds of discretionary and small project funds being launched as the council streamlines its approach to funding following local government reorganisation in Dorset.

The council has already announced the cultural organisations that will be supported with a three-year funding agreement as part of the Organisational Revenue Support Fund.

The 24 organisations include Bridport Arts Centre, Weymouth Museum, the Tank Museum and Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum.

Weymouth's award-winning Nothe Fort has secured a £60,000 grant to develop its displays, educational programmes and heritage initiatives over the next three years while Artsreach, a not-for-profit travelling arts organisation, has also been successful in securing a funding agreement and will receive a total of £125,841 over the next three years.

The grant will enable the charity to continue its art tours for the next three years, providing people with access to affordable, professional live performances and creative arts projects.

Cllr Haynes added: "We know that Arts Council England invests £2.5 million revenue funding into Dorset’s arts and cultural organisations and one of the reasons they do this is because Dorset Council continues to invest in the cultural sector."

For more information on the Organisational Revenue Support Fund, visit the Dorset Council website.

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