The chairs of our decision-making committees in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been answering questions that you've sent in.
You can listen to the interviews via the audio player on the right, and you can read biographies of the country chairs below.
On 16 March the Chair of Big Lottery Fund, Sir Clive Booth, took part in a live web chat. You can read what he said here
To listen to your country's BIG chair simply click on their name below.
- England chair - Sanjay Dighé
- Northern Ireland chair - Frank Hewitt
- Scotland chair - Alison Magee
- Wales chair - Huw Vaughan Thomas
Transcripts of each podcast are also available.
Sanjay Dighé - England chair
"I can't think of a better job! We award money to hundreds of projects each of which is helping to improve the lives of people around the country. What better feeling can you have?"
Sanjay Dighé is currently Principal of Vega Risk Consulting providing training and consultancy in financial derivatives and risk management. He has previously held senior executive positions in investment banks including Global Head of Equity Derivatives at Banque Paribas Capital Markets.
Sanjay is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a member of the Strategic Planning Society and founder member of the London chapter of the Global Association of Risk Professionals. He is a Governor of two schools and a Further Education college and holds M.B.A and B.Sc. (Hons) degrees.
Frank Hewitt - Northern Ireland chair
"I am delighted to be part of the Big Lottery Fund Board as I have seen, and been immensely impressed by, the benefits BIG has brought to communities and people across Northern Ireland through a range of innovative programmes."
Frank Hewitt is currently Chairman of the Northern Ireland Science Park and Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany. He is also a non-executive Board Member of Invest Northern Ireland.
Frank has many years of industrial development experience with the former Industrial Development Board and was former IDB Deputy Chief Executive with responsibility for inward investment.
Alison Magee - Scotland chair
"I am proud of the diversity of what we fund: not just the geographical diversity but also the range of different needs of individuals and communities"
Alison Magee was the Convener of Highland Council for the four years to May 2007 and has had nearly 20 years' experience in Scottish local government as an independent councillor.
She has also been a Board Member of Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise, and previously ran a small business. She lives in central Sutherland.
Huw Vaughan Thomas - Wales chair
"We have a golden opportunity in Wales to reach out and support people of various ages and abilities and help those facing particular issues or disadvantages in society "
Huw Vaughan Thomas has been Director of Taro Consultancy Ltd, a North Wales based company specialising in organisational, governance and economic policy work in the public sector, since June 2001.
He is currently a consumer representative on the Hearing Aid Council and an independent member of the Parole Board. He recently served as a Member of the Commission on Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales.
His earlier career was spent in the civil service and local government. In his previous voluntary and public appointments he has been, amongst other things, a member of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, a Council Member of the Prince's Trust, Cymru, member of the National Trust's Committee for Wales, a trustee of the RNID and a lay member of the Law Society's Governing Council.
