Our CEO, David Knott reflects on our impact 2024-25

Today we publish our latest Impact Report, Communities making the difference: Our impact in 2024/25.

It tells an important story about what communities across the UK are making possible with National Lottery funding. It is a story of connection, resilience, care and practical action - often in the face of very difficult circumstances.

But for me, the report is more than a record of activity. It is also part of a wider commitment I made when I became Chief Executive: to put impact at the heart of how we think, learn and act as a funder.

That commitment sits at the heart of our strategy, It starts with community. If we believe that lasting change starts with people and communities, then we must be serious about understanding whether that belief is right, where it is most powerful, where it is not enough on its own, and how we must keep improving.

Impact matters because communities matter. Knowing what we think, testing what we believe, being curious about what is really changing, and seeking to improve must be central to the social sector. If we do not do that, we fail the communities we are here to serve.

Communities are choosing connection over division

Over the past year, communities have continued to face rising living costs, strained public services, pressure on mental health and wellbeing, and a wider sense of uncertainty. In recent weeks, we have also seen moments of tension, racism, division and violence that remind us how fragile trust and belonging can sometimes feel.

But this report also tells us something profoundly important.

Communities are not passive in the face of these pressures. Across the UK, people are continuing to care for one another, to build relationships, to create safe and welcoming spaces, and to act with generosity and imagination in the places they call home.

Our communities can feel fragile, but they are not broken.

Again and again, local organisations are helping to hold the social fabric of the country together. They are doing this with skill, commitment and love for their communities, often under great strain and against the odds.

The question now is how we change those odds.

If we want healthier, fairer and more resilient communities, then we need stronger long-term backing for the people and organisations doing this work. That means funding, yes. But it also means a different relationship between institutions and the people and places they serve - one built on trust, dignity, patience, humility and local knowledge.

Why community matters more than ever

Our strategy, It starts with community, is grounded in a simple belief: lasting change starts with people.

We see time and again that progress happens when communities have strong relationships, confidence and trust; when people have real influence over decisions; and when local organisations have the support they need to shape the future of their places.

When people feel connected, they are more likely to feel safe, healthy and hopeful about the future. When communities have agency, they are better able to respond to challenge, prevent harm, and build the conditions for people to flourish.

That matters not only for individual lives, but for the country we become.

The debate about public service reform, prevention and place is rightly becoming more prominent. But if we are serious about those agendas, we need to go further than asking how government or institutions can work better in places. We need to recognise the value of community itself.

Belonging, dignity, agency, meaning and trust are not just useful means to better outcomes. They are valuable ends in themselves.

What the data tells us

In 2024/25, we awarded £790 million through 13,100 grants to 12,500 community organisations, supporting community-led action in towns, cities, villages and rural areas across the UK.

Those projects directly reached nearly 7 million people.

We funded an idea every eight minutes. More than half of our funding went to communities facing the greatest poverty and disadvantage.

These numbers matter. They show the scale, reach and breadth of National Lottery funding. But the numbers only take us so far.

Behind them are the things that make community life possible: a youth club that stays open; a trusted adult who listens; a community garden where neighbours connect; a warm space where someone feels less alone; parents gaining confidence; refugees finding belonging; volunteers improving local green spaces; people giving their time because they care about the place they live and the people around them.

On recent visits seeing work we support, like Bulwell Forest Gardens in my hometown of Nottingham, to Live Well in Greater Manchester, to Galashiels in Scotland and Derry in Northern Ireland, I have been struck again by how much of this work is both practical and profound. It is practical because it helps people with the realities of daily life. It is profound because it builds confidence, relationships and hope.

These are the building blocks of stronger communities. They are also the foundations of prevention, resilience and social renewal.

What we are learning

This report celebrates impact. But it also asks us to keep learning.

We need to understand more about what helps communities thrive over time. We need to understand how trust, participation and belonging grow in places where people feel distant from power and opportunity. We need to understand how community-led action connects to the larger systems and institutions that shape people’s lives.

And we need to be honest that communities cannot shoulder these pressures alone.

The challenges facing society - from health inequalities and social fragmentation to climate change and pressure on public services - require stronger, longer-term investment in the social infrastructure that helps communities thrive.

That does not mean replacing grassroots action with top-down programmes. It means the opposite. It means recognising that the insight, energy and relationships already present in communities should shape how institutions act.

The lesson of this report is not simply that communities can deliver more. It is that we should start with what communities know, build from what communities are already doing, and redesign support around their strengths.

How our role as a funder must continue to evolve

As a funder, we need to keep learning and adapting too.

We will remain deeply committed to grassroots funding - from the smallest local ideas through to larger partnerships and long-term investments. That breadth is one of our great strengths.

But the next phase of It starts with community must also ask more of us.

We need to learn more systematically alongside communities. We need to share insight more openly. We need to support long-term change, not only short-term activity. And we need to back bigger, bolder ideas where evidence, lived experience and community leadership show that they are needed.

This is not a choice between small and large, or between local action and system change. The future requires both.

Small grants can unlock energy, confidence and participation. Longer-term investment can help communities shape the systems around them. Our task is to understand how these different forms of funding work together in pursuit of lasting change.

What happens next

As we move into the next phase of It starts with community, we will build on the insights in this report.

We will stay rooted in grassroots funding. We will continue to back thousands of local organisations across the UK. And we will also step up our work on the deeper, longer-term challenges facing communities.

That means strengthening how we learn with communities. It means using what we learn to shape national conversations about prevention, place, trust and social infrastructure. And it means being prepared to make bigger, bolder and longer-term commitments where they can help communities lead the change they know is needed.

When communities thrive, we all do

This report reinforces something we see every day.

Communities are not the last line of defence when other systems fail. They are a foundation for a healthier, fairer and more hopeful future.

They are where connection is built. Where trust is repaired. Where people find agency, dignity and belonging. Where change begins.

When communities thrive, we all do.

Find out more about the report findings.