Visitors to www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/consultationforum from Monday will be able to fill in the detailed consultation questionnaire, post questions and comments on a discussion board, watch video case studies and find answers to frequently asked questions.

Sir Clive Booth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "Experience has taught us that it is most often local organisations and communities who are best placed to make decisions on how to use Lottery funding. We need to hear the views of the people we work with and our consultation process is working to do this on many levels."

Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, also welcomed the consultation, saying: "Today marks a new, more inclusive era in Lottery funding. It shows how the Lottery is responding to people's priorities through greater public involvement and with greater public trust."

The web consultation is part of a drive by the fund to fulfill government pledges to give the public a say in where lottery money goes, which some charities fear could leech money away from vital but less popular causes.

In August, the Fund will also be the focus of two television programmes called "Who wins the lottery?" on the Community Channel. The programmes will see a debate of the role of Lottery funding and its importance to communities, with a panel taking questions from a studio audience that will include representatives from successful and unsuccessful lottery funding applicants.