Extra £12mn announced for #iwill Fund
Melanie May | 7 July 2022 | News
The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) are putting an extra £12 million of funding into the #iwill Fund.
Both funders have each announced an additional £6 million, taking the total investment to £66 million. The #iwill Fund distributes this by working in partnership with other funders.
Since launching in 2016 the #iwill Fund has worked in collaboration with over thirty match funders that match #iwill Fund monies on at least a £1:£1 ratio and develop #iwill Fund projects. This new funding is primarily aimed at those who are new to the #iwill Fund and are developing their own youth social action funding projects through grant funding to other organisations.
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Yesterday, the Minister for Civil Society and Youth, Nigel Huddleston MP, and Emma Corrigan, England Director of Programmes, Operations & Regions at The National Lottery Community Fund visited Young Manchester to launch the new funding. Young Manchester (main image) has been an #iwill Fund match funder since 2017, receiving £2.5 million for the Youth and Play Fund. The project aims to embed youth social action within open youth and play provision, working towards their ambition of making Manchester the ‘City of Social Action’.
Huddleston said:
“We know that participation in social action, such as volunteering, fundraising, and campaigning, can have a transformative impact on the lives of young people.
“The #iwill Fund is creating projects and programmes to make this happen, so I’m very pleased that this £12 million funding boost will significantly enhance the opportunities for young people to learn and come together across the country.”
In the last five years, the National Lottery Community Fund has awarded more than £1.2 billion through almost 15,000 projects and programmes to support young people.
David Knott, Chief Executive at The National Lottery Community Fund, commented:
“The work of the #iwill Fund has had an incredible impact on young people over the last six years, helping to develop their skills and capacity to significantly contribute to their community. Thanks to National Lottery players and Government investment, this further funding will be invested into providing even more opportunities for young people, so they can help create prosperous and thriving communities and make a positive difference to their own and others’ lives.”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.