The Platinum Jubilee Fund

Planetary Boundaries, Birmingham

This programme is now closed to applications.

Please visit National Lottery Awards for All where there is information on funding available to support community events or celebrations to mark the year of Platinum Jubilee throughout 2022.

The Platinum Jubilee celebrates 70 years of Her Majesty The Queen’s reign and to mark this occasion, The National Lottery Community Fund will fund 70 projects across the UK.

This is a significant National moment, and we are looking for projects that go beyond simply celebrating but for those that create change for communities.

We want to fund projects that create a greater legacy for our places and spaces, and that support new opportunities, activities and build better relationships with one another, across generations and with the natural world.

Funded projects will need to be up and running by Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend on 5 June 2022.

We plan to make our final decisions on which projects to fund in Spring 2022. So, we would expect the projects we fund under this programme to start in Spring 2022 onwards.

We will work with all funded projects so that we can publicly share and uplift your work by the Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend on 4 and 5 June 2022.

Our three areas of focus are:

1. Across Generations - Strengthening relationships between generations and creating a legacy for future generations.

  • Projects that connect people across generations through doing activities together
  • Projects that consider future generations and how the Jubilee can leave a legacy for them in the community
  • Projects designed and led by young people who want to be more active in shaping the future of their communities.

2. Community Renewal - Supporting new opportunities for people to develop skills and experiences in their local community, as well as opportunities to bring people together in new ways, and in new or different places and spaces.

  • Projects making use of significant local sites or spaces – parks, heritage buildings, community spaces etc.
  • Projects creating new opportunities for the people that live locally to contribute and/or to build skills and experiences
  • Projects starting something new (a set of activities, a group, a community space, a service, a network) that marks the Jubilee as a turning point in the community.

3. Our Shared Natural World - Growing our care and action locally for the natural world.

  • Projects initiating collective action in relation to the natural world locally - giving more people the opportunity to care for the planet at a local level

Across the applications, we will be looking for and prioritising projects that:

  • draw on the creativity of the community
  • want to do something new and inventive
  • bring new opportunities
  • make use of sites of local significance
  • use multiple channels through which people can participate,
  • that will have impact on more than one of the above areas of focus, and
  • we're especially keen to see applications led by young people.

Read this blog for some examples of the types of projects we will and won’t fund.

Area
UK-wide
Suitable for
Small local voluntary or community organisations and groups
Funding size
£30,000 to £50,000 for up to 2 years
Total available
£3.5 million.
Application deadline

Closed to applications.

How to apply

This programme is closed.

We only have a certain amount of funding to award and will only make 70 awards

We’re expecting a lot of applications, and many of them will be for really worthwhile projects. This means we’ll have to make some difficult decisions. There are often lots of projects we cannot fund, even good ones.

In order to try and manage demand we’ve taken the difficult decision to only accept up to 700 applications (or close to applications on 15 December 2021 if this comes sooner). All applications received will be assessed at the same time.

We’ll prioritise applications from groups who:

  • have not received funding from us before
  • do not have a current award with us
  • are smaller or medium sized organisations or groups with an annual turnover of under £100,000
  • or are organisations that can demonstrate to us that they have significant reach into communities and are able to engage a large number of people to get involved
  • work in communities where there is a history of fewer funding opportunities.
  • work in areas where we know communities face challenging economic circumstances.

Other organisations can apply but please consider these factors before you take the time to apply.

Please note that we cannot fund capital costs through the Platinum Jubilee Programme. Where the costs are essential for supporting the activity of your project, we can consider a small amount of capital (under £10,000) as part of your budget.

What do we mean by capital costs?

Capital costs are the costs of land or building work, buying equipment, furnishings, premises or other items that cost substantial amounts and will last for several years. For example, costs incurred in purchasing computers, a minibus or new premises are all capital costs. All other costs are revenue costs.

Make sure you check who can and cannot apply before filling out the application form.

How long will it take to get a decision?

We’ll aim to tell you a decision in around two months so that you have plenty of time to prepare for your project to start alongside the Jubilee in June 2022.

If it's difficult or impossible for you to complete an application form

You can contact us if you have any communication support needs. We’re happy to talk about other ways for you to tell us about your idea.

What information you need to apply

We ask for two different people from your organisation to be our contacts for the project:

  • one person should be someone we can talk to if we have any questions about your project
  • the other person should be a senior member of your organisation, who'll be legally responsible for the funding.

Both need to live in the UK.

We need their:

  • names
  • contact details
  • home addresses
  • dates of birth.

Both contacts need to have different email addresses.

You’ll need to let the senior contact know you’re including their information as part of the application.

These two people cannot be:

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

We ask for the legal name of your organisation - and its address. And what type of organisation it is

Make sure these are up to date and match up with any information or identity documents we ask for (when you get to the application part). Your organisation’s ‘legal name’ may not be the same as your day-to-day name. Your legal name is the one shown on your governing document (like your constitution, trust deed, memorandum or articles of association).

We ask for information about your organisation’s accounts

We want to know the date your accounts wrap up each year and how much income you have.

If you do not have yearly accounts because you’re a new organisation (less than 15 months old), that’s okay. We can still look at your application.

Send us your bank statement

What we need

We ask for one bank statement dated within the last three months. So, we can check the account you want us to pay the grant into.

We'll not be able to assess your application if you do not have a bank account and bank statement that meet our requirements below and you’ll need to reapply once you have these set up. If you’re not sure contact us

We need:

  1. A bank account that meets our needs in our Financial Controls and Financial Governance Guidance
  2. A bank statement that meets our needs.

It should show:

  • the bank logo
  • your organisation's legal name
  • the address the statements are sent to
  • your bank's name
  • the account number and sort code
  • the date the statement was issued.

Here’s a picture of the kind of bank statement we’re looking for.

We ask you for information about what sort of project you’d like to do

And how your project will meet the criteria listed in ‘The projects we fund’.

What happens after you apply

  1. You send us your application - we'll get back to you with a decision in around two months. During this time, we look at your idea and do our security checks. You can find out more about the checks we do. If we need more information about your idea to help with our decision, we might give you a call or send you an email.
  2. If your application is successful - we'll contact you with the good news! Once you’ve been awarded funding from us, here’s what to expect. This page will also let you know about the things you need to do.
  3. If your application is unsuccessful - we will send you an email to inform you of our decision
  4. You can start spending the funding on your project - you should spend the funding the way you said you would in your application (unless we’ve agreed to something different first).
    We might check in from time to time - to see how things are going. 
  5. Share your story – let people know about your grant and the amazing work you're doing in your community. Sharing news about your project with your community can be a great way to keep them involved and engaged. Your award email will also include details on how to publicise your grant and let people know about how your project is supporting people in your community.

We also ask you to read and agree to our terms and conditions

You can read the terms and conditions.

If you’re not sure about the sort of things we ask for when you apply

Contact us.

You can also read our Data Protection Statement to find out how we use the personal data you give us.