Ruth Bates’ Post

Here at The National Lottery Community Fund Wales / Cronfa Gymunedol y Loteri Genedlaethol Cymru, we want to build on our support for impactful community led projects. We are looking to make a bigger difference in the years ahead and to be more focused across our four new missions which are supporting communities to come together, be more environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives. As set out recently in our new Corporate Plan, we will be applying a sharper focus on tackling inequality meaning we will focus more on the places, people and communities who experience poverty, disadvantage and discrimination in Wales. We will also be supporting environmental action across all our funding and supporting projects to consider the environment even when it isn’t their main focus. With that in mind, we are refreshing our funding offer in Wales to ensure that the grants we give out are matching these priorities. We have already increased the amount of money you can receive through National Lottery Awards for All to £20,000, and we are currently refreshing People and Places too. We have numerous funding streams currently open, and you can stay up to date with all our latest funding news by signing up to our Grantholder Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ewFQy85f Read more about the development in Wales to our funding to support what matters most to communities in this blog: https://lnkd.in/eZSHYh45 https://lnkd.in/eBPtmnka

Voluntary organisations and community groups have another chance to apply for an East Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council ‘Cost of Living Community Grant’ to support individuals and families in communities throughout the district this winter. The Cost of Living Community Grant fund has already supported 17 projects across East Suffolk in round one, ranging from a network of Warm Rooms in Beccles to the Woodbridge CommuniTEA Chinwag and the Emmaus Felixstowe Community Lunch. Groups can apply for a grant of £500 to £1,500 to run projects between January and March 2025, but are encouraged to get their applications in soon – the second and final round will close on December 16. https://lnkd.in/eEHaP4gZ

Hannah Rignell and I joined the National Lottery Community Fund just before we launched our new strategy in June 2023 - 'It starts with community'.   Lots has changed since then. We've had a change of government here in the UK. Summer saw racist riots across England. America is electing a new president.   But the core tenets of our strategy remain relevant - perhaps more relevant now than ever.   Today, we are starting to talk about what our strategy means for our funding in England. We are responsible for distributing £3 billion of life changing funds over the life time of our strategy and we will need to make changes to what we fund and how we work to make It starts with community real in communities in England.   Community agency, power and control will be at the heart of our England funding portfolio.   We will align all of our funding in England with our community-led missions and equity based approach, starting from spring 2025 – and we’ll partner with others for even greater impact.   Fundamentally, delivering our community-led missions rests on people feeling empowered to make a difference. But not all of us feel we have the power and agency to be part of that change.   That’s why we will increase our investment in the building blocks of community-led change, with a particular focus on communities where people feel least in control. We will commit at least £275m to these ‘building blocks’ of community power, agency and control in the years to come, 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   We believe in the power of community and connection and are ambitious for its potential. In England, we are dedicating the £3bn we will distribute by 2030 to supporting people and communities to shape the future and lead change.   We will make those changes gradually, over time. Community power might conjure up images of placards, protests, petitions - but the way we will move towards our new portfolio will be evolution, not revolution. We have heard loud and clear how tough it is out there and how any changes we make reverberate. That's why we will be phasing our changes to our funding, starting in spring 2025.   You can find out more about the changes we are making here https://lnkd.in/dmc9yJsR

The Commissioning Better Outcomes (CBO) Fund is a National Lottery funded programme, which aims to support the development of more Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) and other outcomes-based commissioning models in England. Ecorys and ATQ Consultants were commissioned to evaluate the programme. Together, they have developed nine in-depth reviews of projects developed with support from the programme. One of the projects to benefit from the fund was the Pan London Impact Partnership, otherwise known as the ‘Positive Families Partnership’ (PFP). This project used intensive family therapy to help families stay together, preventing children and young people from entering care. It’s also an example of good practice in simplifying a complex partnership set-up. At The National Lottery Community Fund, we’re committed to supporting communities and projects that help children and young people to thrive. The Pan London Impact Partnership is a great example of this in practice. To find out more about the Partnership, its achievements, and outcomes, read the full evaluation report on our website: https://ow.ly/3onI50UJkLJ

Greo Evidence Insights is happy to announce the launch of a new funding opportunity for Indigenous-led community impact projects - the Indigenous Peoples Community Investment Program for Preventing and Reducing Gambling Harms in Ontario. This funding call is for gambling harm prevention, education, and support initiatives in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities across Ontario. Applicants are to include representation from (any of) First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples, including Nations, governments, communities, councils, organizations, associations, and not-for-profit organizations. Funding is to be directed to an Indigenous-led organization. The total available funds for this funding call are $400,000 CAD. Up to four projects will be funded for up to $100,000 each. Learn more https://lnkd.in/e-BYg48x #funding #gambling #communityinvestment #Indigenous #communityimpact

💰 National Lottery Funding - Community Action Fund £20,001 to £250,000 "For projects bringing communities together around activities that matter to them. We'll fund projects that: build positive relationships support people’s health or wellbeing help people improve their access and connection to nature make a positive difference to the environment Projects should support people experiencing poverty, disadvantage or discrimination. Voluntary or community organisations that are led by their community can apply. We can fund projects for up to 5 years." Find out more: https://lnkd.in/ecTYEiKU

We’d like to share the news that The Green Estate has joined the Community Wealth Fund Alliance. The CWFA is a group of over 700 civil society, public and private sector organisations who support the Community Wealth Fund campaign. The campaign advocates for funding for neighbourhoods that have missed out on their fair share of funding and lack vital social infrastructure. These are neighbourhoods assessed as having high levels of deprivation that have lost facilities and services including community centres, pubs and transport links, and their residents can often feel forgotten or ‘left behind’. You can find out more about the Community Wealth Fund here: https://lnkd.in/eCKVeKQB

Community groups, CIC’s and faith-based groups in Mansfield have been awarded over £270,000 thanks to the Mansfield Community Grant Fund. This project is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Mansfield District Council submitted a UKSPF Investment Plan in 2022, setting out the area’s priorities for spending the town’s allocation of £2.955m. The fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK by investing in communities and places, supporting local businesses, people, and skills. Since 2022, the council has worked in partnership with Mansfield CVS to make it easier for community and voluntary groups to access smaller amounts of funding (under £15,000) for projects that will make a difference in their local neighbourhoods. On this occasion, round 3 has delivered a total of £119,624.77 which has been awarded to 15 groups and organisations. Executive Mayor Andy Abrahams said: “It is great news that more community and voluntary groups, which do a fantastic job supporting our residents in Mansfield, are receiving this crucial financial boost. We designed our UKSPF Community Grant to optimise the opportunities to help our many community champions and volunteers with the selfless work they do across our district. Each of these funded projects will make a meaningful difference to residents, which we are of course delighted to have contributed to with these grants. These projects ensure our communities are supported with services they know they need for their area.” Stephen Cooper, Interim Deputy CEO Mansfield CVS added “As an infrastructure organisation that supports the voluntary and community sector in Mansfield, we recognise the importance of funding local projects that make a significant difference to local people. The projects that have been awarded funding will either improve people’s satisfaction with where they live, improve health and wellbeing or tackle some of the issues arising from the cost-of-living crisis.” The successful organisations are: Ladybrook Enterprises, MCVS, One Conversation, Nottingham Festival of Science &Curiosity, Arena Church, Beacon Project, Family Action, Friends of Bellamy, Maun Refuge, SENsational Minds, St John Centre, Starz CiC, Thrive Together, Warm Welcome and Children’s Bereavement Centre. #ukspf #funding #community #projects #success #mansfield #mansfielddistrictcouncil #government

We are currently working towards our new strategy and as a result of this we have three new initiatives which have recently launched. I wanted to draw your attention to these as the deadline for expressions of interest is fast approaching (midday Wednesday 5 February) and it would be great to see representation from our region. Right now, we are looking for partners for the development stages of three new approaches. If you are interested in being our partner for these approaches, please find further info below. Community Power ·       We’ve committed to a £100 million, 10 year Community Power fund. We aim to launch the broader programme in 2026 ·       By community power, we mean local communities being able to influence and change the places they live. As well as the services they use, and decisions that affect their lives ·       We’re looking for 10 to 15 partners to work with us in the development stage of the Community Power fund. This work will shape how the Community Power fund runs in the future ·       For the development stage we have up to £1.2 million funding available for one year ·       https://lnkd.in/d4tvfXgb You Decide ·       We want to directly involve communities in how we work and give out funding. We’ll dedicate at least 5% of our £500 million funding for England each year to You Decide to help us do that ·       We’re looking for up to 5 expert partners to involve communities in decisions about who and what to fund ·       We have £2 million funding for this development stage. Partners will support communities to decide how to give out most of this funding to communities ·       You Decide can support communities who share an identity, interest or experience. Or people living in the same place. Particularly those from communities who experience poverty, disadvantage and discrimination https://lnkd.in/d85t4MwS Grant Holder Support ·       We want to deliver a package of funding and support to address the most common challenges that community organisations face ·       We’ve committed £150 million of funding until 2030 to support our grant holders and other organisations that need it most. This funding will help increase the knowledge, skills and resilience of civil society organisations ·       We’re looking for a partner to lead the development phase of this package of support. We’re offering £2.1 million in funding for this first stage https://lnkd.in/d7KPPDd2 The National Lottery Community Fund

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