News article

Following an announcement in November, the National Lottery confirmed its future plans:

'£275m will be invested to support the building blocks of community led change, with an emphasis on those who feel less empowered, including: A £100 million, ten-year Community Power Fund to help people influence and change the places they live, the services they use, and decisions that affect their lives across England.

A new £50 million community leaders programme to support informal community leaders who are making a difference in their area. A new You Decide funding stream, worth at least 5% of all funding in England, where communities will decide which good causes funding should support. More information can be found here - our vision for funding in England.   We will be focusing our funding on four missions, supporting communities to: come together help children and young people to access resources and experiences that help them thrive enable people to live healthier lives be environmentally sustainable  

Our Awards for All and Reaching Communities programmes remain open with the following key messages: An increase to our Awards for All budget to at least £135m per year until 2030. We are strongly recommending that groups do not apply to Reaching Communities until Spring 2025 at which point, we will launch our new criteria aligned to our new missions.

Until then, we: will start to prioritise projects that fit best with our new strategy missions. expect continued high demand, meaning there is a lower chance of funding. are likely to take around 16 weeks after groups apply to tell them our initial decision. will not be able to have a feedback call with most unsuccessful applicants. advise groups not to apply again for the same project if they’ve been unsuccessful.'