UK’s largest community funder launches £225m programme to tackle inequality at source

The Solidarity Fund aims to deliver a fairer, stronger and more resilient future for communities across England
The National Lottery Community Fund will offer grants between £1 million and £5 million to address root causes of poverty, disadvantage and discrimination
Around ten community organisations expected to receive funding in the programme’s first year

Today The National Lottery Community Fund has launched a new £225 million Solidarity Fund to help deliver a fairer, stronger and more resilient future for communities across England.

The Solidarity Fund will support organisations that are already working to make a lasting change to the root causes of inequality and help people who’ve lived through these issues work together to influence change.

The National Lottery Community Fund will commit £25 million to the first year of the programme, followed by £50 million each year up to 2030. Grants will range from £1 million to £5 million each, to be spent over 5 to 10 years.

The new funding programme has been built through extensive consultation with funders and frontline organisations that work closely with people experiencing inequality – from ethnic minority-led community groups and women’s organisations, to voluntary action networks and institutional funders.

It is the next step in delivering The National Lottery Community Fund’s plans to put community agency, power and control at the heart of its funding in England. The Solidarity Fund aims to build on community organisations’ existing experience of combatting inequality. It is expected that around ten organisations will receive funding in the Solidarity Fund’s first year.

With the help of National Lottery funding, their work will be expected to make big and lasting changes to the causes of poverty, disadvantage or discrimination – sometimes referred to as ‘systems change’ – and bring people together to address these issues.

Ali Torabi, Head of Funding Development at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “We are committed to delivering a fairer, stronger, and more resilient future for communities across England. That means supporting work that looks beyond short-term fixes, focusing instead on long-term solutions and stronger networks of community-led action.  

“We have consulted far and wide to design a Solidarity Fund that reflects the priorities of the communities we serve. We’ve heard that long-term, core funding can be a game changer for organisations that are already working hard to tackle inequality.”

“Poverty, discrimination and exclusion are all connected, and the Solidarity Fund will bring together the people and organisations who can make a lasting social impact rooted in lived experience.”

Organisations can apply to the Solidarity Fund from today by visiting: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/solidarity-fund

In the coming weeks, The National Lottery Community Fund will start seeking partners to work together on tackling health inequalities driven by structural racism. This will be the first in a number of opportunities launching this year to partner directly with the funder, and help to deliver its four community-led missions in England.

Last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700 projects to turn their great ideas into reality. 

Date published: 11 June, 2025
Region: England

Notes to Editors

More details about The National Lottery Community Fund’s plans in England can be found at tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/englandplan

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.

We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key government programmes and initiatives.

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

Come together
Be environmentally sustainable
Help children and young people thrive
Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute over £600 million a year through 13,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £49 billion has been raised and more than 690,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.

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The Solidarity Fund

Long-term funding for organisations in England dealing with the causes of inequality.