Fairer Life Chances

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)
• public sector organisation (such as local authorities)
• community benefit society.

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 our programmes:

• Community Led
• Improving Lives, or
• Cost of Living Support Scotland.

You should contact us 6 months before your funding finishes to talk about applying.

Who cannot apply

Who we cannot accept applications from:

• individuals
• sole traders
• organisations based outside the UK
• 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.

The projects we’ll fund

We’ll fund projects that support children, young people and families. Or that help people to be healthier and have better access to support.

We’ll fund new or existing projects.

Projects should support people experiencing poverty, disadvantage or discrimination

We want to fund vulnerable or excluded communities. Particularly people who find it hardest to access support. So we’ll expect you to show us how you’ll reach these people.

You can use statistics to help show us who you are working with. But it’s most important that you tell us about the local context. Tell us about your knowledge, experience and engagement with people facing those challenges.

Projects must meet one of our outcomes

Our outcomes are:

Children, young people and families thrive

We’ll prioritise projects supporting children, young people and families:

• facing poverty or struggling with the cost of living
• experiencing mental health issues
• with a disability or additional support needs. For example children with a physical or learning disability, or English as a second or other language.
• who are socially excluded and experiencing discrimination. Including being homeless or care experienced. Find a definition of ‘care experienced’ on The Promise Scotland website.

People have better relationships, connections, and physical health or mental health

By ‘connections’ we mean access to other services. Or other support, like peer support networks.

We’ll prioritise projects supporting people who:

• experience abuse
• are isolated or lonely
• are carers
• have a disability or long term health condition
• face financial hardship
• experience social exclusion or discrimination. Such as people who are homeless, seeking asylum, or dealing with addiction.

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

Your project should be designed with the people you support

You should:

• involve them in how it’s developed, delivered and led
• make use of their existing skills and interests
• complement and make connections with the existing services they use.

We’re happy to fund different sizes of projects

We can fund larger projects that are well established. But we’re also interested in helping smaller projects to grow.

We will not expect the same impact from a small project as we would from a larger one. We’ll consider the amount of money you are asking for when making our decisions.

What we’re unlikely to fund

We’re unlikely to fund projects that are not delivering a service or directly supporting people. For example, if the main purpose of your project is an awareness raising campaign.

We are also unlikely to fund projects around:

• employability
• legal advice
• counselling or therapy only (unless it’s part of a project offering wider support)
• directly delivering healthcare: like giving people support and diagnoses they should already get through the NHS.

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.

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.

How much you can apply for

We offer funding from £20,001 to £500,000 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 want to fund different sizes of organisation and project. But we expect that most of our funding will be for £250,000 or less.

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.

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
• fundraising activities (where you use our funding to raise more money)
• 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.