Who can and cannot apply
Applying for funding
You can only apply once for COVID-19 emergency funding in England, either for less than £10,000, over £10,000 or over £10,000 for partnerships. So please make sure that you’re applying for what you need.
You can apply if you already have existing grants with The National Lottery Community Fund. If you've already got COVID-19 funding through the Reaching Communities fund, you'll need to tell us how the funding you're applying for now is different from that.
We know that small and medium-sized charities are likely to be more vulnerable right now. So we encourage applications from those organisations, including micro charities, though we can consider applications from larger organisations on a case-by-case basis.
We also encourage organisations to apply who are led by people with lived experience.
We can also fund a partnership (both new partnerships, and one that’s already been set up) if the applying organisation is one of the eligible organisations listed below. They can be made up of the types of organisations we’ve listed below. Find out more about applying for funding as a partnership.
Who can apply
You can apply if you’re an 'incorporated organisation' that serves communities within England and is one of the following:
- a registered, exempt or excepted charity
- a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
- a community interest company (by guarantee or shares)
- a community benefit society
If you are a company limited by shares, a company limited by guarantee (which is not charitable), or a co-operative society, to apply you would need to meet the following criteria:
- have a clear social mission which, in the reasonable opinion of the Fund Administrator, is analogous to a recognised charitable purpose
- distribute less than 50% of post-tax profits and reinvests at least 51% surpluses into pursuing its social mission
- have a constitutional or contractual lock on its social mission, its dividend and surplus distribution policy and “asset-lock”
- carry out, or have ambitions to carry out, trading activities in support of and which are causally linked to its social mission
- offer its products and services for general public benefit without restrictions and barriers, such as affordability
- be open to undertaking an independent social impact audit
- have remuneration and benefits policy which it is willing to make publicly accessible, and which is reasonable and proportionate relative to the market practice for VCSEs
- in the case of a sale of the organisation, the directors make best efforts to preserve the social mission under new ownership
- can demonstrate that no private benefit will arise from the Grant
- no state aid issues have been identified
Who cannot apply
We cannot accept applications from:
- unincorporated organisations
- organisations that have already applied to us for COVID-19 funding, including the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, since 22 May 2020
- organisations that have already applied to the Coronavirus Community Support Fund and been told they were unsuccessful
- organisations that already agreed to transfer their Reaching Communities application to the Coronavirus Community Support Fund
- statutory bodies (including town, parish and community councils)
- schools
- individuals
- sole traders
- organisations based outside the UK
- anyone who’s applying for another organisation
- organisations that look to make profits and share these profits out privately. This includes organisations without the right asset locks. Or organisations that can pay profits to directors or shareholders
- organisations that don’t have at least 2 people on their board or committee who aren’t married, in a civil partnership, in a long-term relationship, living together at the same address, or related by blood
If you’re not sure if you can apply, contact us.
British Sign Language video
You can also watch this video to get the above information in British Sign Language (BSL) for those who are hard of hearing.