National Lottery Awards for All England

This programme now focuses on funding voluntary and community organisations with projects helping communities through the COVID-19 pandemic (to be reviewed in July 2020)

Given the emergency, the National Lottery are looking to award funding of £300 – £10,000 to cover six months of expenditure and to fund activities supporting people affected by the crisis.

The National Lottery are looking to fund Covid-19 projects and will prioritise:

• organisations supporting people who are at high risk from COVID-19;

• organisation supporting people most likely to face increased demand and challenges as a result of the COVID-19 crisis; and

• organisations which connect communities and support communities to work together to respond to COVID-19.

Projects should involve your community in the design, development and delivery of the activities you’re planning.

The National Lottery can fund:

-equipment;

• one-off events;

• small land or building projects (but make sure you own the land or building, have a lease that can’t be ended for five years, have a letter from the owner saying the land or building will be leased to you for at least five years, or an official letter from the owner or landlord that says you’re allowed to do work on the building) – you should also think about getting planning permission for the work too;

• staff costs;

• training costs;

• transport;

• utilities/running costs; and/or

• volunteer expenses.

Applicants are encouraged to think about any organisational costs needed to help them and their community through the current crisis.

Applicants must be one of the following:

• a voluntary or community organisation;

• a registered charity;

• a constituted group or club;

• a not-for-profit company or Community Interest Company;

• a school (as long as your project benefits and involves the communities around the school); or

• a statutory body (including town, parish and community council).

The National Lottery are keen to fund smaller organisations too.

Deadline: Continuous rolling programme. The National Lottery ask organisations who are not looking for COVID-19 related funding to not to submit an application at this time.

Applicants can have one National Lottery Awards for All grant in each country in the UK (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland), and one COVID-19 related National Lottery Awards for All grant in each country too (within a 12 month period)

Who can apply:

We're particularly interested in projects led by, or supporting people and communities who have been disproportionality affected by COVID 19. These include communities experiencing ethnic or racial inequity, discrimination or inequality, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, and people who’re seeking asylum or who are refugees. We want to see more people across these communities represented in our funding.  

We can support a wide range of organisations and welcome applications from both larger and smaller organisations.

We can accept applications from consortiums or partnerships. In this case, a lead partner will need to take responsibility for the application process.

You can apply if you have a current grant from The National Lottery Community Fund. We’ll consider how this funding would complement and impact on existing awards during the assessment process. If there’s a high demand for this funding, we may need to prioritise organisations that do not already have grant funding from us.

Your organisation also needs to be one of the following:   

• registered charity   
• community interest company (CIC)
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) 
• community benefit society 
• co-operative society (if it has a not-for-profit clause and registered with the Financial Conduct Authority)  . voluntary or community organisation   
• statutory body (including town, parish and community councils) 
• company limited by guarantee (if it has a not-for-profit clause or is a registered charity). 
• Board or committee members 
•  It’s essential that organisations that apply have at least two people on their board or committee who are not related.

 By related, we mean: 

• married to each other 

• in a civil partnership with each other 

• in a long-term relationship with each other  -- living together at the same address 

• related by blood .  We cannot accept applications from:

• individuals   

• sole traders   

• organisations focused on making profits and sharing these profits privately - including companies limited by shares, organisations without the right asset locks, or organisations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders

• organisations based outside the UK   

• applications made by one organisation on behalf of another    schools.