What types of activity will we fund?
Through Community Assets we are looking for strong applications which:
- are rooted in the community, are genuinely community-led and give the community a stake in local decision-making
- are connected to other organisations and services in the community
- show clearly the changes that will take place and why this is the best way to deliver these changes
- show the developments will be economically sustainable once our grant has ended.
We want to focus our funding where it will have the most impact so we will prioritise applications that address disadvantage and inequality.
For some real-life examples, you can find case studies of community asset projects we have funded on our blog.
Who can apply?
You can apply if your organisation is community-led, has open membership and has a social purpose.
Your organisation must have a governing body such as a committee or board. Your governing body must have at least three unrelated people on it and a written governing document, such as a constitution. The governing document should be clear that the organisation has:
- a social purpose – the organisation must have a clearly stated purpose which benefits your local area in some way
- open membership – everyone living in your area should be able to get involved in your organisation and the work that it does
- community control – the majority of people serving on your governing body should be from the local area and make the decisions.
If your organisation doesn’t meet the above criteria but you feel it is representative of the people in your area, we are still interested in hearing from you.
We can’t accept applications from one organisation applying on behalf of another. Existing The National Lottery Community Fund grantholders can apply, but you can only have one Community Assets grant at a time.
What can you apply for?
We want to provide longer term funding that offers community-led organisations stability to deliver great work, so you can apply for up to five years funding. You can apply for capital funding (such as building or refurbishment costs), revenue funding (such as salaries and running costs) and the cost of acquiring an asset.
Although we encourage match-funding in applications, we can fund up to 100% of activity costs, including staff, training, volunteer expenses, equipment, premises costs, evaluation and overheads.
You may also be interested in what we’ve learned from groups doing community asset transfer projects, which could help in developing your project.
The National Lottery Community Fund is a living wage friendly funder. This means that we encourage our applicants to pay their staff the UK Living Wage.
Please visit our Living Wage page for more information
Related documents
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