Largest expansion in National Lottery funding in three decades
At The National Lottery Community Fund, we believe social connections and community activities are at the heart of creating healthier, happier lives and a flourishing society.
That’s why we support amazing community-led projects, and why we’re looking to make a bigger difference in the years ahead by listening and responding to communities and focusing on supporting bolder change.
When we announced our new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, we said we will support what matters most to different communities by targeting delivery across our four community-led missions and focusing on where there is greatest need.
Today, I’m excited to share our new Corporate Plan which sets out ambitious targets for the next three years to deliver on that strategy to support what matters most to communities across the UK.
It’s a stretching development plan with an ambition to innovate, learn and adapt. We’ve put a premium on partnership because we know the power in working with others. And we’ve put our people, who’ll shape and deliver this, centre stage.
This new plan puts tackling inequality and taking an equity-based approach at the core of what we do. And as the largest community funder in the UK, we will invest most in areas of greater deprivation. That’s why we’re pledging to extend grassroots funding to communities across the UK and setting a target that more than 50% of all grants will go to communities experiencing greatest poverty and disadvantage.
We also said we’ll embed support for environmental action across all funding, and that we’d invest in specific environmental projects, so communities can help create a healthy planet. So, we’re pledging to dedicate 15% of funding for environmental sustainability and supporting projects to consider the environment even when it isn’t their main focus.
Every three minutes a community shares an idea with us, so we know the power in working with others and the importance of putting people and communities centre stage to shape and deliver our plan. That’s why we’ve put a premium on partnerships, and we’ll target seeing more than 80% of local communities apply for National Lottery funding, so it reaches communities across the UK, from Bude to Ballyclare, Brynmawr to Bannockburn.
And by local communities we really do mean local communities – to a grassroots level typically 7,500 in population. This is the largest expansion in National Lottery funding in thirty years.
Thanks to National Lottery players, we’ll distribute at least a further £4 billion by 2030 to support activities that will strengthen society and improve lives.
In recent weeks I've spent time with local infrastructure organisations at the NAVCA
Annual Conference and visiting projects like the Family Volunteering Club. National Lottery funding makes a real difference in our communities, and projects like Family Volunteering introduce volunteering at an early age, so every child grows up feeling connected to their local community.
We're making clear commitments today that we'll be transparent and publicly accountable for and will work hard to deliver - fuelling what we know: it starts with community.