£12 million #iwill Fund boost to support youth social action across the country

The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have today announced an additional £12 million funding to the #iwill Fund, helping to support young people from all backgrounds and areas to access high quality social action opportunities.

The #iwill Fund is a joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Both funders have each announced an additional £6 million taking the total investment to £66 million. The #iwill Fund distributes its investment by working in partnership with other funders to create an environment of learning and mutual collaboration.

Since launching in 2016 the #iwill Fund has worked in collaboration with over thirty Match Funders that match #iwill Fund monies on at least a £1:£1 ratio and develop #iwill Fund projects. This new funding is primarily aimed at Match Funders that are new to the #iwill Fund and are developing their own youth social action funding projects through grant funding to other organisations.

Nigel Huddleston, Minister for Civil Society and Youth, said: "We know that participation in social action, such as volunteering, fundraising, and campaigning, can have a transformative impact on the lives of young people.

“The #iwill Fund is creating projects and programmes to make this happen, so I'm very pleased that this £12 million funding boost will significantly enhance the opportunities for young people to learn and come together across the country.”

The National Lottery Community Fund is committed to ensuring the voices of young people are heard and supporting them to prosper and thrive. In the last five years, it has awarded more than £1.2 billion through almost 15,000 projects and programmes to support young people – making it the leading non-statutory funder of opportunities for young people in the UK.

David Knott, Chief Executive at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “The work of the #iwill Fund has had an incredible impact on young people over the last six years, helping to develop their skills and capacity to significantly contribute to their community. Thanks to National Lottery players and Government investment, this further funding will be invested into providing even more opportunities for young people, so they can help create prosperous and thriving communities and make a positive difference to their own and others’ lives.”

Yesterday, the Minister for Civil Society and Youth, Nigel Huddleston MP, and Emma Corrigan, England Director of Programmes, Operations & Regions at The National Lottery Community Fund visited Young Manchester to launch the new funding. Young Manchester has been an #iwill Fund Match Funder since 2017, receiving £2.5 million for the Youth and Play Fund. The project aims to embed youth social action within open youth and play provision, working towards their ambition of making Manchester the ‘City of Social Action’.

To find out more information on the #iwill Fund and how to apply to become an #iwill Fund Match Funder visit: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/iwill-fund

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes across the UK. In the last 12 months we have given out nearly £600 million to 12,500 organisations reaching every local authority and constituency in the UK.

To find out more about us visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk

Date published: 7 July, 2022
Region: England

Notes to Editors

#iwill Fund

The #iwill Fund is made possible thanks to £66 million joint investment from The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to support young people to access high quality social action opportunities.
The #iwill Fund brings together a group of organisations who all contribute funding to embed meaningful social action into the lives of young people.
The #iwill Fund supports the aims of the #iwill campaign - to make involvement in social action a part of life for young people, by recognising the benefit for both young people and their communities.
By bringing together funders from across different sectors and by making sure that young people have a say in where the funding goes – the #iwill Fund is taking a collaborative approach.

The #iwill movement

The #iwill movement is a collaboration of over 1000 organisations and 300 young #iwill Ambassadors from across the UK. They are united by a shared belief that all children and young people should be supported and empowered to make a positive difference on the issues that affect their lives, their communities, and broader society.
#iwill was launched in November 2013 after an independent review into how different sectors could help more young people to make a positive difference.
The #iwill movement is supported by an independent coordination hub, hosted by Volunteering Matters & UK Youth.
Take the lead by signing up to the Power of Youth Charter at www.iwill.org.uk or follow us @iwill_movement on twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest funder of community activity in the UK – we support people and communities to prosper and thrive.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with Government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.

Our funding has a positive impact and makes a difference to people’s lives. We support projects focused on things that matter, including economic prosperity, employment, young people, mental health, loneliness and helping the UK reach net zero by 2050.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £43 billion has been raised for good causes. National Lottery funding has been used to support over 635,000 projects - 255 projects per postcode area.

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