Welcome to 2024

Welcome to 2024! I always enjoy these touchpoints at the start of a fresh New Year, as we take time to reflect on the year gone by and look ahead at what is to come.

2023 was a significant year for us at The National Lottery Community Fund, as we launched our new strategy. Our 2030 strategy focuses on making a greater difference in the years ahead, working in partnership with communities, funders, the public sector and civil society to accelerate our shared goal to strengthen society and improve lives.

As Chief Executive, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the 18,000 individuals and organisations that shared their ideas with us. We heard the concerns about inequality, the climate crisis, the health of communities and the future for children and young people. “It starts with community” gives us a clear direction for the years ahead.

The moments of 2023

Thanks to National Lottery players, last year we were able to support 14,000 projects, doing brilliant work with £650m of funding. It’s impossible to properly do justice to the breadth and diversity of these grants – whether smaller or large, first-time or continuation awards, local or national in reach – they reflect inspiring work happening in resilient communities.

It was a busy year: we were privileged to fund a community project somewhere in the UK every 7 minutes.

Several moments standout as significant for communities in 2023, reflected in our funding.

In June, we were proud to support communities marking the 75th anniversary of Windrush as groups celebrated, commemorated and reflected upon the incredible legacy created by the endeavours of Windrush pioneers. More than 140 community groups across the UK received a share of over £1.2 million to mark this historic occasion. As I listened and learned about the cultural heritage and personal experiences of this generation, I reflected about that of my own grandmother, who arrived as an immigrant to Britain in the same Tilbury Docks a few months before in 1947 – a ‘displaced person’ from war-torn Europe.

In May, National Lottery funding helped bring people together to mark His Majesty The King’s Coronation. That month we also supported Ukrainian communities and those who sought safety in the UK, as Eurovision was hosted in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine. Visiting local projects, like The Daisy Foundation and work of Liverpool Football Club Foundation, I felt the infectious pride the city felt. And there were few dry eyes listening to some incredible Ukrainian folk and pop singers.

“It starts with community” – Delivering our commitments

Since we launched our new strategy in June, we’ve moved quickly to deliver on key commitments we made in our strategy.

The first of those was to open our new UK-wide Fund to support communities to come together and make for a better-connected society. This funding is designed to support communities to connect in ways that better fit our changing lives. In February, we expect to make around £15m of awards and I can’t wait to see the impact it will have.

In November, we delivered a major milestone on National Lottery Awards for All. We’ve doubled the amount of funding available to £20,000, and the length of time of awards to two years. We’re already seeing exciting ideas from communities, with over 3,000 groups applying for National Lottery Awards for All on the back of this significant change.

What will 2024 bring?

In recent years it has become conventional to look ahead with doom and gloom, understandably so. After all, only two years ago, when the immediate tragedy and pandemic restrictions from Covid were receding, a return to conflict in Europe drove energy prices and a once-in-a-generation cost of living crisis, layered on deeper inequality.

I’d like to depart from this and offer some reason for hope and optimism for 2024, if cautiously. And where headwinds do not feel like they have yet slackened, to encourage and support looking ahead and walking forward. Next week we’ll release the results of our latest Community Research Index, which show that community spirit shines in UK communities.

Six in ten say community spirit is strong where they live, and they feel part of their community. People are clear about the benefits of being part of their local community. These include feeling safer (59%), having more awareness of what is happening (58%) and a greater sense of belonging (55%).

While concerns about cost-of-living and macro action on climate have not gone away, this community spirit translates into commitment for social action and community agency: a large majority (64%) are willing to work with others to improve their local community, half (50%) say they intend to volunteer in 2024, and (64%) believe in the power of individual action to make a positive difference on climate change in communities.

I saw all this first hand on travels across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland last year. And most recently at the Birmingham Care Group in December (where I filmed my New Year video), who receive funding through our Reaching Communities Programme, to provide a food pantry and safe space for the diverse communities of inner-city Birmingham.

As a funder we also saw it in the demand for programmes such as The Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund, which was open during 2023. This programme will see us distribute £71 million in grants from the UK Government to existing services in England, that support low-income households and individuals facing severe challenges due to the increased cost of living.

In addition to National Lottery funding, during the last year we distributed Government funding on programmes such as our jointly-funded Million Hours Fund, supporting additional activities that give young people more places to go and positive things to do. In 2024 we will be working with Government to design and deliver the Community Wealth Fund, using dormant assets to empower local people and improve social infrastructure in targeted areas across England.

So, what’s to come for The National Lottery Community Fund in 2024?

During 2024 we’ll further roll out our new strategy – with much more to come in the weeks and months ahead, alongside keeping all our existing funding channels open. In Spring we’ll launch our new Corporate Plan together with further funding portfolio announcements. In particular, expect more on how we will drive our four community-led missions forward which will support communities to:

1. come together
2. be environmentally sustainable
   
3. help children and young people thrive
   
4. enable people to live healthier lives.
   

To take the example of climate, our recent environment plan explains how we plan to make strides in this important area in the years to come. As a signatory of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change, we’ve joined other major funders in recognising that the growing climate emergency is a serious risk to the pursuit of our funding aims. We significantly increased our funding commitment through our Climate Action Fund this year and are on track to award £35m by April 2024, with more to come in the year ahead.

Further, in our strategy we made clear our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in all we do, and are working hard to develop our funding practice. Since we launched our strategy, we’ve seen the value of awards increase to every community of focus under our EDI strategy (ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, children and young people, women and girls).

As One Fund, we’re also putting this into our own practice. To take just one example we recently signed the Age-friendly Employer Pledge - a nationwide programme for employers who recognise the importance and value of older workers. You’ll be able to hear more from Fiona Joseph, our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, soon about why this is an important step for us, but for now it’s one of many we are taking as a funder to tackle inequality.

Making innovation our business as usual

A few months ago, we launched an Innovation Unit in the Fund. Under the leadership of Shane Ryan MBE this is helping to make innovation a fundamental part of our culture. You’ll hear more from Shane, and the team he’s working with, soon about how we plan to make innovation our business as usual and provide a dedicated space here at The National Lottery Community Fund to nurture innovative ideas, thinking, and projects. 

Once again, my thanks for your dedicated work with communities over the last year. I am wishing you all the best for our work together in 2024.

David Knott