Blog posts
Looking for colour, context and perspective about the work of The National Lottery Community Fund, its impact on communities and topics currently in the news? It’s all here. This blog will explain, explore, showcase and examine the ways in which civil society, and as a result the sector, is changing. Read about what people in communities across the UK and sector thought leaders have to say and form your own opinion.
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Think people (not problems) to address homelessness issues
3 July, 2019
By working in genuine partnership, where all parties work to a common goal and support each other’s progress and challenges, we can provide better and more effective pathways out of homelessness. Read more -
Lived experience & the third sector: how do we navigate a work in progress?
3 July, 2019
The National Lottery Community Fund’s Strategic Framework, People in the Lead, believes that with people in the lead communities thrive, and we’ve worked hard to think about how we reflect lived experience in our approach. Read more -
How do we ensure people with first-hand lived experience of social issues are in leadership positions?
1 July, 2019
Treating lived experience as narrative fuel for social change might well be effective in capturing the attention of the wider public, but it has the simultaneous effect of marginalising and pigeonholing the very voices that provide that fuel. Read more -
How do we inspire meaningful connections in our communities?
21 June, 2019
People can experience loneliness at any point in their lives. For those people who have lost connections, it’s daunting to get out and meet people and make new friends. So how do they do that? Read more -
How the growing taste for a key ingredient in civil society’s fortunes is shaping social investment lending
4 June, 2019
Once upon a time, philanthropy was the key ingredient underpinning efforts to catch people at risk of slipping through the gap between the power of the state, the market and the reach of social networks to address need. But in 2019, things look a bit different. Read more -
Shared ambition & belief: a new basis for bonding between funders & charities?
13 May, 2019
Our aim is to ensure that applying for and receiving funding is much more like an equal relationship between charities and funders. In this blog, Dan Paskins looks at how charities and communities have shaped our new funding approach. Read more -
How our new Past Grant Search fed Google’s hungry spider
14 March, 2019
The inside story of how we rebuilt our past grants search tool and added over half a million pages to Google in the process Read more -
A young person’s perspective on social action
16 November, 2018
The #iwill Fund brings together a group of organisations who all contribute funding to embed meaningful social action into the lives of young people. The #iwill Fund is overseen by a Leadership Board who agree partnerships with funders & partners. Read more -
What we’re learning about place-based funding
15 November, 2018
The campaign for the American mid-term elections is perhaps the last place you would expect to hear about the seaside village of Jaywick, Essex, and this somewhat bizarre campaign poster sparked understandable outrage at the stereotyping of a place that has, in recent years, undergone significant positive change. Read more -
New Digital Fund seeks pioneers and natives
26 October, 2018
The National Lottery Community Fund has given many millions to digital projects over the last decade. In the last five years alone it has made over £16m of sub £10,000 grants to support mainly small charities and organisations to thrive in a digital era. And yet here we are launching a new Digital Fund, setting aside up to £15m over the next two years. Here’s why. Read more