Communities fragile but not broken, long-term impact will require more than just funding – new report

The everyday resilience of the UK's communities is holding the country's social fabric together at a time when it is needed more than ever, a new report from The National Lottery Community Fund says today.

The report brings together data from a total of £790.9million of funding awarded to over 13,000 community projects in 2024/25 alone. More than half (51%) of the funding went to the top 30% most deprived areas of the UK.

In addition, a survey of grantholders whose projects ended in 2024/25 found that their funding directly supported 6.8 million people across the life of the projects, and touched the lives of up to 14 million more.

The report, Communities Making The Difference, shows that grassroots funding helps to build stronger, more connected communities, with more than 8 in 10 (81%) of the projects included in the study, reporting that they helped bring people together, and 72% of projects said they helped to improve connections and relationships in the community.

At a time when people and places across the UK continue to face economic insecurity, divisions, and inequalities, the report finds that the power of community organisations providing places, relationships and support structures that help people feel safer, healthier and more connected, is more important than ever.

Over £310 million of funding in 2024/25 alone went to projects supporting communities coming together, with grants that ended in 2025 directly supporting 3.2 million people.

Grants ending in 2024/25 also supported 1.1 million children and young people, from early years support for families to supporting teenagers making the transition to adulthood with training, education and employment support. Projects focused on physical and mental health and wellbeing supported 1.2 million people, and over half a million people benefited from environmental projects such as community gardens and transforming local green spaces.

Today’s report also highlights that community spirit is thriving in the UK, with an army of almost 128,900 volunteers generously giving their time to the projects across the country, contributing over 1 million working days.

David Knott, CEO of The National Lottery Community Fund, said:

"Our report shows the life-changing difference that community organisations are making every day - quietly, powerfully and often under huge pressure.

"Across the UK, people and places are facing economic insecurity, inequality and division. But what we see through National Lottery funding is that while many communities are fragile, they are not broken, and local organisations are holding communities together under huge strain.

"Yet they cannot do this alone. Creating better long-term outcomes for our communities needs us all to think and act differently now. If we want a healthier, fairer and more resilient future, communities need stronger long-term backing. That means funding but it also means a different relationship between institutions and the people and places they serve, one built on trust, patience and local knowledge.

"At The National Lottery Community Fund, that is what we mean by our strategy It starts with community. We will remain absolutely committed to grassroots funding, while also stepping up to make bigger, bolder and longer-term commitments that help communities lead the change they know is needed."

Graeme Aston, 62, found himself working 78 hours a week to stay afloat as a head of English at a school in Hartlepool, alongside two cancer diagnoses in the family, and significant support needed for his disabled young son. He found support, belonging and community with the Pals Programme in Stockton-On-Tees, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.

The group provides wellbeing activities for men from all communities. Following extreme stress and being off work for eight months, Graeme heard about the programme from a friend, and he went along to meet Mike, the founder.

Graeme said:

"Mike could see I was nervous and he said quietly in my ear 'look around the room, half the blokes in here are going through stuff'. It made me feel less alone. Then we started to sing. It was just a group of blokes singing Keep the Home Fires Burning in a pub, but it was incredible."

Graeme continued: "I started going every week and very quickly became involved in the different activities. It's so easy to get wrapped up in your own misery and the drudgery of everyday life, but the choir pulled me out of that. Doing things like gardening, something completely outside my normal world, and meeting these men with whom I probably would never have crossed paths, was incredibly valuable. We have such different lives, yet we are all husbands, fathers, workers and share a love of our community and a common set of values."

The Communities Making The Difference report also sets out learning questions for the Fund to help us understand from communities what is working to bring people together and build stronger, more connected communities, why, and what more is needed. This will support the Fund's approach to supporting communities in the second half of its current strategy with bolder and longer-term action to help strengthen trust, participation and belonging across the UK.

In the past three years alone, The National Lottery Community Fund has awarded £2.5 billion in grants to organisations supporting communities across the UK, from grassroots awards starting at £300 to multi-million partnership projects.