National Lottery Community Fund doubles grassroots funding
Melanie May | 15 November 2023 | News
The National Lottery Community Fund has doubled the amount of funding available to grassroots projects, in what it’s calling the biggest change in National Lottery funding for a generation.
The change to National Lottery Awards for All is part of The National Lottery Community Fund’s ambition to strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.
The new maximum award available is £20,000. The funder is also doubling the time that grassroots causes can be funded for through these grants, to two years. Awards for All are available in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Applications are ongoing.
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Equity, diversity and inclusion is one of The National Lottery Community Fund’s priorities, and it has pledged to invest most in places, people and communities experiencing poverty, disadvantage and discrimination.
Last year through National Lottery Awards for All the funder awarded £11.9 million to projects supporting for ethnic minority communities. £18.3 million was awarded to groups supporting people with disabilities, and £3.2 million to LGBTQ+ communities.
This was part of more than 11,600 National Lottery Awards for All grants made totalling £98 million. These were awarded in almost every local authority, with one grant made every ten minutes.
David Knott, Chief Executive Officer at The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“We’ve been inspired to reimagine National Lottery Awards for All because of what we’ve seen, felt and heard about the huge difference small amounts of funding, thanks to National Lottery players, make every day.
“From our engagement with communities and our work every day, we know small grants are the vital building block of community. That’s why we’re doubling down on our grassroots funding with these changes, supporting communities to take action on the things that matter to them in a way that works for them.
“We expect these changes will see significant growth in National Lottery Awards for All in local communities. As a responsive funder we look forward to seeing more ideas from all communities across the UK.”
Earlier this year, the funder launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which underpins its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030 in support of projects that build resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK, which last year enabled The National Lottery Community Fund to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of funding to communities.
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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.