The King’s Fund announces new £3m health and wellbeing fund
Howard Lake | 24 January 2020 | News
The King’s Fund has announced a partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund that will see up to £3 million given to help voluntary and community organisations boost the health and wellbeing of their communities. The fund accompanies a new strategy for the next five years.
The King’s Fund new five-year strategy will focus on three strategic priorities:
- building healthier places and communities;
- tackling the worst health outcomes;
- and supporting people and leaders working in health and care.
The strategy includes a renewed emphasis on collaborating with partners, including the voluntary and community sector, with the new fund part of that. It also sees greater focus on improving health and care services for people who currently have the poorest health outcomes.
The King’s Fund’s strategy priorities 2020. Source: The King’s Fund
Healthy communities together
The Healthy communities together programme will launch in the next few weeks. The partnership combines the grant-making experience of The National Lottery Community Fund and the health, care and leadership expertise of The King’s Fund.
The fund, for which applications are not yet open, will provide funding and development support to charities to build partnerships with the NHS and local authorities in their area. It is expected to run for four years.
The King’s Fund recognises that many voluntary and community organisations are thinly stretched and face a range of challenges, including:
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- dedicating sufficient time to sharing their knowledge of the community in order to shape local health and care plans
- navigating complex NHS and local authority contracting rules
- chasing short-term funding from national and local government.
At the announcement of the new strategy and fund Richard Murray, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said: “I am delighted that this new chapter in the organisation’s history is starting with a major new programme to unlock the potential of the voluntary sector to improve people’s health.
“The Healthy communities together programme will provide the much-needed funding and leadership support to build long-lasting partnerships between local charities, community groups and public sector organisations. By working together hand-in-glove, voluntary sector, NHS and local authority organisations will be able to have a bigger impact on the health of their communities.’
When will applications be open?
The Healthy communities together programme will be open to applications from voluntary and public sector organisations working together in a local area in England. Up to six pilot areas will be chosen to start work later this year, with the programme specifically designed to target areas experiencing the most disadvantage.
Meanwhile, organisations and collaboratives interested in the programme can sign up to the Healthy communities together mailing list via The King’s Fund website.
Our new strategy has an emphasis on collaborating with partners, including those in the #VCSE. That’s why we’re working in partnership with @TNLComFund to deliver a major new programme supporting local areas to improve their communities’ health. https://t.co/9ryvi7uMQQ
— The King's Fund (@TheKingsFund) January 24, 2020
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.