The National Lottery Community Fund’s new strategy ‘It starts with community’ is now live. This document sets out of our ambitions as a funder from now until 2030.
Over the past year 18,000 individuals and organisations across the UK have shared their ideas with us. As a result, we’ve developed a strategy that focuses on creating resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable, funding activities that strengthen and improve lives here in Wales and across the UK.
We want to make a bigger difference in the years ahead, both by listening and responding to communities, and being more focused on supporting the greatest impact.
It starts with community builds on what we’ve learned over the last 30 years and will retain the local and relational grant making approach we know is valued so highly by our stakeholders and customers here in Wales.
Our strategy is built around three hallmarks.
First, we know communities want bolder change to tackle some of the big challenges they face. We’ve set four community-led missions, where we will focus our funding, learning and efforts to influence change.
Our funding will focus on supporting communities to:
- come together
- be more environmentally sustainable
- help children and young people thrive
- enable people to live healthier lives.
Secondly, we’ve listened, heard and reflected about the value of our grassroots community funding. Our new National Lottery Awards for All programme will go live in late autumn 2023 –increasing the ceiling for grants from £10,000 to up to £20,000 and increasing the time money can be spent over from one to two years. We’ll share more details on that as and when they become available.
Third, as The National Lottery’s 30th anniversary approaches our strategy builds on the great national success story we are been a part of, supporting life changing projects across the UK. We’ve renewed our values and ways of working to be a springboard for action. We’ll adapt to changing circumstances, as recent experience has taught us. But we will not allow this to hold us back from the action and support for longer-term and transformational change where it is most needed.
To read the strategy in English, click here.
To read the strategy in Welsh, click here.
