In an average week more than £30 million of lottery funding is distributed to good causes in the charity, arts, sports and cultural sectors through distributing bodies such as the National Lottery Community Fund, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and Sport England.
During the pandemic many of these distribution bodies pivoted their funds towards supporting entities and causes that were in danger of collapse from the impact of Covid and also towards distributing the government's emergency support and recovery packages including the Culture Recovery Fund and Sports Survival Fund.
Since 1994 when it began, National Lottery players have helped to raise over £45 billion for good causes, with more than 660,000 individual awards made across the UK including many in my own constituency and across Worcestershire. Many local residents will have seen plaques on walls of their community centres, sports clubs and heritage sites stating that the location has received lottery funding and I encourage local good causes to check out if they are eligible for the latest available funding and apply.
Sometimes, lottery money is supplemented by taxpayers money - particularly in the areas of sport and the arts to fund specific programmes and initiatives. The types of funding available and eligibility criteria do change, so I encourage potential applicants to regularly check latest funding initiatives. Applicants will also find that if they have been unsuccessful in their bids, they will often receive feedback on why from local representatives of the relevant funding body and can often change and resubmit an improved bid in light of the feedback received. You will find the funding bodies are helpful and want the money to go to where it will have the most impact.
More Information on the types of funds available and eligibility criteria can be found on the following website: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/funding
Further information on selected funds currently available:
Art’s Council England currently has two principal active funding opportunities currently open for applications:
- The National Lottery Project Grants is an open access programme for arts, museums and libraries projects.
- Round 13 of the Developing your Creative Practice fund is currently open to support creative practitioners doing work related to supported artforms and disciplines who live in England, and have at least one years’ creative practice experience outside a formal education context. The deadline for applications for this fund is 12pm (midday) on the 22nd March 2022.
For more information on these funds, including the specific criteria for applying and more information on deadlines, please see the Arts Council England’s website: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has three principal active funding opportunities currently open for applications:
- National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £3,000 to £10,000
- National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £10,000 to £250,000
- National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £250,000 to £5million
For more information on these funds, including the specific criteria for applying and information on deadlines, please see the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s website https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding
Sport England have a number of active funds currently open that organisations can apply for. Each year, Sport England invest more than £250 million of National Lottery and public money to help people play sport and take part in physical activity. Examples of currently active Sport England funds include:
- The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund
- The Return to Play: Active Together
- The Places and Spaces Fund
- The Storm Relief Fund
- The Together Fund
- The Strategic Facilities Fund
For more information on these funds, including the specific criteria for applying and information on deadlines, please see Sport England’s website: https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/our-funds
The National Lottery Community Fund has a number of large England and UK Wide funds open for applications. Example funding programmes include:
- The National Lottery Awards for All England
- Reaching Communities England
- Partnerships
- The #iwill Fund
- Awards from the UK Portfolio
- Bringing People Together funding
For more information on these funds, including the specific criteria for applying and information on deadlines, please see the National Lottery Community Fund’s website: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes
Please note: for all of these funds, there are specific eligibility criteria, and applicants are advised to read the application guidance carefully on the respective websites.
