THE UK FUND (THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND)
Grants of between £500,000 and £5 million over 2-10 years (although most awards are likely to be for between 2 and 5 years) are available for a range of organisations, including registered charities, Community Interest Companies and local authorities, for projects that enable communities to come together help create a better-connected society and help children and young people use their voice to influence change. Partnership proposals are welcomed.
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o Application deadline: none – this is an ongoing grant programme that opened on Friday 4th August 2023. Applications may be made at any time.
o Funder: The National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) (The National Lottery Community Fund, is a public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for “good causes”. Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to more than 130,000 projects in the UK).
o Who can apply: registered charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs), constituted community and voluntary groups, Community Interest Companies (CICs), statutory agencies (including town and parish councils), Community Benefit Societies and Cooperative Societies. Partnership proposals are welcomed.
o Key words: Revenue, Children and Young People, Social Cohesion, UK-wide Impact, Transformational Change, Online and Offline Communities, Disadvantaged Communities, United Kingdom.
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The UK Fund was one of the National Lottery Community Fund’s first significant commitments as part of its new strategy for the period 2023-30, entitled ‘It Starts with Community.’ The UK Fund is looking to fund organisations that want to do more to help communities come together and help create a better-connected society, as well as projects that help children and young people use their voice to influence change.
Projects must either work across the UK, or be able to inform, influence or scale up across the UK. The National Lottery wants to support ambitious projects that aim to create longer-term, transformational change. It will take an equity-based approach to tackle inequality. This means funding will be directed to areas where the greatest need can be evidenced.
Funding is available for projects that:
o Benefit communities across the UK (by working in different locations, or by sharing learning between countries).
o Help make significant changes to services or systems that affect people’s everyday lives.
o Scale up their impact by expanding their work (by helping more people, or doing more for people they already work with), and
o Support people experiencing poverty, disadvantage, and discrimination.
Projects must also meet one or more of the following aims:
o Help children and young people facing specific challenges change the systems that affect them.
o Help more organisations to involve and listen to children and young people.
o Help people and communities who find it difficult to meet face-to-face to make meaningful connections online.
o Help people from all backgrounds to influence the future of their communities, and/or
o Improve relationships between people with different life experiences.
Revenue grants of between £500,000 and £5 million are available over 2-5 years (and in exceptional circumstances up to 10 years) to not-for-profit organisations for projects that have a UK-wide reach and the ability to create better connected communities. Up to 20 projects are expected to be funded each year. Partnership proposals are welcomed.
Grants can be used for:
o Capital costs (although applicants should note that this is mainly a revenue grant scheme).
o Costs associated with delivering the project in other languages.
o Development work (testing new ways of working, staff training and development, developing governance, tech or IT upgrades and purchases, sharing learning).
o Equipment.
o Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
o Staff costs, including sessional workers.
o Transport.
o Utilities and running costs, and
o Volunteer expenses.
Funding is not available for:
o Activities where a profit will be distributed for private gain.
o Alcohol.
o Fundraising or paying someone to write the grant application.
o Individuals, or items which will only benefit an individual, rather than the wider community.
o Loans, endowments or interest.
o Organisations based outside of the UK.
o Religious or political activities.
o Replacing statutory obligations or activities that replace government funding.
o Retrospective costs.
o Sole traders, or
o VAT that can be reclaimed.
The programme opened to applications on Monday 4th August 2023. There is no closing date; applications are assessed on an ongoing basis.
The National Lottery Community Fund has scheduled an information webinar on Tuesday 6th August 2024 at 3pm for organisations that would like to learn more about the UK Fund. Registration can be made at this LINK.
Further information about the UK Fund is available on the National Lottery Community Fund website.