£2m more for loneliness projects from Local Connections Fund
Howard Lake | 16 June 2021 | News
The second round of the Local Connections Fund is opening for applications later this month to help community groups in England to tackle loneliness.
From 28 June grassroots charities and community groups tackling loneliness in England will be able to apply for a share of £2 million of National Lottery funding to support their work.
This second round of funding will be used to fund hundreds of microgrants between £300 – £2,500. It will be available to community groups with an annual income of less than £50,000.
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What is the Local Connections Fund?
The Local Connections Fund is a joint £4 million funding programme from the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Community Fund. The fund was set up to give small community groups with an income of less than £50,000 the support needed to tackle loneliness and isolation by helping people feel more connected.
During its first round of funding more than 850 grants were awarded, with an emphasis on keeping people connected remotely while lockdown restrictions were in place.
This round of funding will enable local activities to “become more accessible and reach people who may be less likely to attend traditional clubs and societies”. Given the partial relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in England, the funding will focus on supporting community projects to bring people together – where possible and safe to do so – in face to face settings.
Loneliness
According to The National Lottery Community Fund’s most recent Community Research Index (a survey of more than 7,000 people across the UK) almost half of respondents (47%) say that tackling loneliness and isolation is an important priority for the year ahead. At the same time, recent research by the Office of National Statistics reveals that the number of people in the UK feeling “often” or “always” lonely has jumped by more than a million since last year – from 2.6 million to 3.7 million.
Through this programme and other partnerships such as The Building Connections Fund, DCMS and The National Lottery Community Fund are working together to help prevent loneliness, strengthen our communities, and improve people’s lives.
Blondel Cluff CBE, Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Loneliness affects people of all ages and from all walks of life and we know that, because of the pandemic, many people are experiencing isolation for the very first time. The first round of Local Connections funding demonstrated the huge impact that small grants can have when tackling loneliness at a local level, empowering organisations to make a change in their communities.
“Thanks to National Lottery players we are now able to award £2 million to support hundreds of other organisations and communities across the country, and we are proud to be working alongside Government to encourage people to tackle loneliness and build social connections.”
Eligibility and how to apply
If your community group or charity received a Local Connections Fund grant during the first round of funding it is not eligible to apply for funding during the second round of applications.
Find out how and when to apply for the Local Connections Fund.
According to the National Lottery Community Fund, National Lottery players help raise £30 million every week for the UK’s good causes, and £41 billion has been distributed to 565,000 good causes across the UK since 1994.
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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.