The Torbay Lottery Small Grants Fund is now open for applications.

People who have supported the central Torbay Lottery have raised around £8,000 to date and the council is now inviting local charity, voluntary and community sector organisations to apply for cash awards to go towards the costs of a specific activity or for the purchase of small items of equipment up to £2,000.

Torbay mayor Gordon Oliver said: “The Torbay Lottery already has 105 good causes signed up that are benefitting from the initiative, with the most popular being on target to receive more than £1,000 over the year.

“We’d now like to encourage them and other local good causes to apply to the Torbay Lottery Small Grant Fund for up to £2,000 one-off funding.”

Applicants can apply up to March 2 and the panel will meet on March 12 to determine who will benefit from the grants.

Successful applicants will be notified within six weeks of the closing date.

Applicants do not need to be current Torbay Lottery good causes to apply, but must meet the requirements set out in the policy.

These include that funding will only be provided where it can be demonstrated that a defined impact will be made that supports the ambitions and targeted actions of the corporate plan.

Organisations should demonstrate an outcomes focus in their applications for funding.

Applicants are also encouraged to demonstrate how the funding will achieve support for projects run by charities, voluntary groups and clubs and organisations.

The Torbay Lottery has been running since last April and supporters can choose which of the 105 local charities or good causes currently signed up they would like to see helped.

From each £1 ticket, 60p goes directly to supporting local good causes, with 20p going into the prize pot.

The biggest cash prize won to date is £2,000, which was awarded last August.