Community Action

Who can apply

You can apply if your organisation is a:

• constituted voluntary or community organisation
• constituted group or club
• registered charity
• Scottish charitable incorporated organisation (SCIO)
• not-for-profit company
• community interest company (CIC)
• community benefit society.

Your organisation should have:

• a clear social purpose that benefits a community
• an open membership that allows people in the community to get involved in your organisation and the work that it does
• a board or committee that is made up of a majority of people from your community

These points should be written in your organisation’s governing document. This is a formal, written record that explains the rules, structure, and procedures of your organisation.

If your organisation does not meet the above criteria

But you feel it is representative of the people in your area, we are still interested in hearing from you.

You need at least 3 board or committee members who are not related

Related can mean:

• related by marriage
• in a civil partnership with each other
• in a long-term relationship with each other
• related through a long-term partner
• living together at the same address
• related by blood.

All companies who apply must have at least 3 directors who are not related in any of these ways. This also applies to companies that are also registered as charities.

We want to fund organisations of different sizes and levels of experience

We’ll talk to you about the length and amount of funding you can apply for when you contact us.

We're happy to fund organisations that have not had long-term funding before. By this we mean funding lasting 2 years or more. But we're unlikely to offer them more than £100,000 in total.

We’ll fund new or existing projects.

If you already have funding from us

Contact us and we'll talk to you about the right time to apply. In some cases we might advise you to wait to apply until your existing funding is nearly finished.

Who cannot apply

Who we cannot accept applications from:

• individuals
• sole traders
• organisations based outside the UK
• schools
• statutory bodies (including local authorities and community councils)
• companies that can pay profits to directors, shareholders or members (including Companies Limited by Shares)
• organisations applying to more than one of our programmes for the same project over the same period. This is because you cannot get duplicate funding for something we're already funding you to do. It’s OK to apply to another programme if you've already had an unsuccessful decision though
• one organisation applying on behalf of another.

You can get help from support organisations - like your local authority or Third Sector Interface (TSI)

They may be able to give you support and advice on writing your application.

The projects we’ll fund

In your application, you must show how you’ll:

• help people come together. This could be through an activity or place, that's online or in person
• reach and support people who experience poverty, disadvantage or discrimination
• be led by your community. This means that people from your community lead on the project idea, planning and decisions
• build on the skills, experiences and strengths of your community
• understand the activities or services that are already available to your community. And show us how your work will fill a gap.

Your project must achieve at least 2 of these outcomes:

• build positive relationships
• support people’s health or wellbeing
• help people improve their access and connection to nature
• make a positive difference to the environment.

You can achieve more than 2 outcomes. But you will not improve your chances of getting funding by achieving more than 2 outcomes.

Types of projects we can fund

We'll fund different types of projects. We're particularly interested in supporting projects that your community needs. And projects that are important to them.

These are a few examples of projects that achieve our outcomes:

• a regular programme of activities that improve the wellbeing of the community. And help people to connect with each other.
• community kitchens, larders, pantries and advice or support activities
• community gardens or growing projects
• environment clear ups, waste reducing activities or mending, repairing and upcycling workshops.

If you’re not sure that we’d fund your project, contact us and we’ll let you know.

Reduce your environmental footprint

The National Lottery Community Fund cares about our environment and is always striving to manage our environmental impact. We encourage and support projects and communities to do the same. Learn more about how you can make your project or event more environmentally sustainable and perhaps save money at the same time in our guidance on reducing your environmental footprint.

If you’ll be working with children, young people or vulnerable adults

You need to have a policy in place that explains how they’ll be safe. If you get funding you’ll need to follow our expectations on safeguarding children and adults at risk.

The SCVO website has child safeguarding advice and information services.

How much you can apply for

We offer funding from £20,001 to £250,000 for up to 5 years

We’ll talk to you about the length and amount of funding you can apply for when you contact us.

We're happy to fund organisations that have not had long-term funding before. By this we mean funding lasting 2 years or more. But we're unlikely to offer them more than £100,000 in total.

What we can fund

We can fund:

• equipment
• one-off events
• staff costs
• training costs
• transport
• utilities
• volunteer expenses
• part of your organisation’s overheads

We’ll fund the delivery of the project. And we’ll fund some of the indirect project costs.

Also known as overheads. This could include things like rent or insurance. Or part of a salary for someone not working directly on the project. Like a senior manager or an office admin worker.

For example, the project you’re applying for could be half of the work your organisation does. In that case, we could fund half of your overheads.

This is sometimes known as full cost recovery. Find out how to work out overheads in our guide to full cost recovery.

We can also fund some capital costs

But we will not fund projects that are mostly for capital costs.

Out of the total funding you ask for, up to £50,000 can be for capital costs. This can include small building repairs, or refurbishing spaces you’re using to deliver the project.

For example, to help you create a community kitchen or garden.

It helps if you have some other funding for your project

For example, money from fundraising or other funders. This is also known as match funding, and it helps us spread our limited money further.

We prefer if you have some match funding. Especially if you are asking us for a larger amount of funding.

But if that's not possible we may be able to fund all the costs of delivering your project.

We’ll talk to you about this when you get in touch to discuss your project.

We cannot fund:

• retrospective costs (costs for things that have already happened, or you’ve already paid for)
• alcohol
• contingency costs, loans, endowments or interest
• paying someone else to write your application for you
• profit-making or fundraising activities
• VAT you can reclaim
• religious activities (we can fund religious organisations if their project benefits the wider community and does not include religious content)
• statutory activities
• activities that help children or young people with their schoolwork during school time
• overseas travel
• projects that take place outside of the UK
• activities that make profits for private gain
• cash that will be given directly to individuals.