Communities for Children offers £15mn to tackle child poverty
Howard Lake | 20 October 2025 | News
Communities for Children is a £15 million fund dedicated to tackling rising child poverty in the UK. It is a collaboration between BBC Children in Need, The National Lottery Community Fund, City Bridge Foundation, Pears Foundation and The Hunter Foundation.
It is focused on finding and funding scalable solutions to support the impact of poverty on children. Funding is intended to support children living “in the most economically deprived areas of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to thrive and fulfil their potential”.
The initiative will include building strong local partnerships, engaging community leaders, and elevating the voices of children and young people, especially those often left unheard.
No applications
Communities for Children will not be open for general applications. Instead, it will work with local communities to identify lead organisations and partners.
Initially the five-year programme will be rolled out across four carefully considered locations. That number will then be increased to ten locations across the UK including rural, urban and coastal areas. Selected locations will each be awarded up to £1.5 million across five years.
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- BBC Children in Need raises £33,513,325 (20 November 2023)
- Children as Changemakers (book) (14 October 2024)
- Celebrities support BBC Children in Need campaign and other charities (19 September 2024)
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.