Celebrating 2023’s key national moments with National Lottery funding

As the largest funder of community activity in the UK, The National Lottery Community Fund has a critical role to play in supporting communities to come together and unleash their energy and potential. Last year alone, we awarded over £579 million of funding UK-wide to incredible community-based projects working hard to improve lives and support people to thrive.

One thing all our projects have in common (other than funding thanks to National Lottery players) is that they bring people together.

Our evidence shows that celebrating and bringing communities together strengthens pride in place and ties people to where they live, increasing a feeling of belonging and place identity. In a typical year, 42% of our grant holders report that people have more local pride and belonging because of the services or activities we support them to deliver.

We’re delighted that this year there are three key moments that are great opportunities for people and communities in the UK to come together and celebrate.

We look forward to welcoming National Lottery Awards for All applications for community activities to celebrate the King’s Coronation in May and the 75th Anniversary of Windrush in June to recognise the huge contribution the Windrush generation and their families have made to the UK.

We are also looking for applications aimed at supporting the Ukrainian community here in the UK, recognising the challenges they face and reflecting the fact that the UK is hosting the Eurovision on behalf of Ukraine this year.

Over the last year, we have funded a range of projects offering both practical and emotional support to Ukrainian refugees who have settled here as a direct result of the war. In the lead up to Eurovision we welcome applications that see the song contest as an opportunity to build strong relationships in and across communities.

We know moments like these can provide a focus point and we hope many organisations consider applying for funding.

Our National Lottery Awards for All programme funds voluntary and community organisations with grants between £300 and £10,000 through a one stop shop application process. For example, organisations might consider using Eurovision as an opportunity to celebrate and build strong relationships in and across communities that have welcomed Ukrainians.

Our recent report Small Grants, Big Impact analysed the reach and impact of our smallest awards, which are the most effective way we have of supporting the people and organisations who are the foundation of grassroots activity in our communities. We make over 12,000 awards each year, reaching every constituency and community in the UK, and over eight in ten (84%) are under £10,000 in value.

As a funder we have on numerous occasions delivered National Lottery funding support to communities to mark moments of national importance. Most recently, in 2022 the Fund awarded grants to support Her late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and celebrate her 70-year reign.

Examples of projects funded by smaller grants during the Platinum Jubilee include a six-month intergenerational project in Rotherham which saw weekly activities hosted at a new community café and brought together younger people with isolated older residents.

In Leicester, a local project remembered the Windrush generation by running cookery sessions to celebrate Caribbean and British cuisine and provided food parcels to support struggling families and build stronger relationships, whilst over in Sunderland, a local community organisation hosted an intergenerational Pride Festival.

In total, almost £11 million was awarded in 2022 to communities to help people around the country come together and celebrate.

The government’s levelling up agenda put forward a policy programme of 12 missions to increase economic growth and opportunity by tackling geographical inequalities. One of the 12 missions to tackle these inequalities was to increase pride in place in every area of the UK by 2030.

Our recent report From Neighbours to Neighbourhoods shared the Fund’s learning on how increasing pride in place might work in practice, be it by individual local authorities, communities or policymakers. The report demonstrates through case studies how, for example, supporting community venues to thrive and harnessing culture to bring people together can reinforce pride in place.

Celebrating upcoming national moments with support from The National Lottery is a great opportunity to do so, see other examples of our learnings from related grants.