Grants are available for voluntary and community organisations working together in partnership in England to help their community.
The National Lottery Community Fund distributes over £600 million a year to communities across the UK, raised by players of The National Lottery.
Objectives of Scheme
The funding is intended for projects or partnerships that do at least one of the following:
- Bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities.
- Improve the places and spaces that matter to communities.
- Help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.
For this scheme, community refers to people living in the same area, or people with similar interests or life experiences.
Grants start at £20,001, or more, for up to five years.
Key Criteria
Applications will be accepted from new or existing partnerships that serve communities in England.
The partnership can apply if all partners are one of the following types of organisations:
- Constituted voluntary or community organisations.
- Registered, exempt or excepted charities.
- Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs).
- Not-for-profit companies limited by guarantee (must be a registered charity or have a not-for-profit “asset lock” clause in the articles of association).
- Community interest companies (CICs).
- Schools.
- Statutory bodies (including local authorities, town, parish, or community council).
- Community Benefit Societies.
- Co-operative societies (must have a not-for-profit “asset lock” clause in their society rules and be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority).
The following types of partnerships are eligible:
- Cross-sector partnerships
- Local organisations working together in their area
- Local and national organisations working together around a particular theme.
Eligible Expenditure
The funding is intended to be flexible and responsive to community needs and can:
- Be for the long or short term
- Be for a specific activity, or for broader costs to help the organisation or community
- Support people, communities and organisations most affected by the cost-of-living crisis
- Help organisations address the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on how they work, now and in the future.
To be eligible, projects or organisations must do at least one of the following things:
- Bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities.
- Improve the places and spaces that matter to communities.
- Help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.
And projects should:
- Involve people and communities from the start.
- Build on people’s strengths.
- Be connected in their community.
The grants can be used for the following costs:
- Direct costs to deliver activities in the community, including:
- Project staff.
- Materials.
- Equipment.
- Room hire.
- Volunteer expenses.
- Project evaluations.
- Organisational development, including:
- Business planning.
- Testing new ways of working.
- Staff training and development.
- Developing governance and leadership.
- Tech or IT upgrades/purchases.
- Developing and sharing impact and learning.
- Increasing capacity to support collaboration and partnership working.
- Core/fixed costs to support the day-to-day running of the organisation, including:
- Core salaries.
- Rent.
- Utilities.
- Equipment.
- Purchasing, refurbishing or developing of land and buildings.
Some political activity and campaigning can be funded, but only if the activity is not party political. This means that it must be about policy, practice, or legislation rather than opposing or supporting a political party. The activity is meant to help the cause of the organisation and benefit the public or society.
How To Apply
Applications may be submitted at any time.
Funding proposals can be submitted using the online application form on the National Lottery Community Fund website or applicants can send an email or video to their regional funding officer (details are on the National Lottery Community Fund website).
Organisations will then be contacted by the National Lottery Community Fund within 12 weeks of submitting a proposal to discuss the next steps of the application process.
Contact the National Lottery Community Fund for further information.
