National Lottery – Awards For All

They offer funding from £300 to £20,000 and can support your project for up to two years.

You can apply for funding to deliver a new or existing activity or to support your organisation to change and adapt to new and future challenges.

They can fund projects that will do at least one of these things:

• bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities
• improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
• help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage
• support people, communities and organisations facing more demands and challenges because of the cost-of-living crisis

This is an ongoing grant and you can apply at least 16 weeks before you want to start the activities or spend any of the money.

You can apply if your organisation is a:

• constituted voluntary or community organisation
• constituted group or club
• registered charity
• charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
• not-for-profit company
• community interest company (CIC) limited by guarantee
• community interest company (CIC) limited by shares (you must follow the Regulator of Community Interest Companies’ guidance on the sharing of profits)
• school (as long as your project benefits and involves the communities around the school)
• statutory body (including local authorities, town, parish and community council)
• community benefit society

You need at least 2 board or committee members who are not related.

All companies who apply must have at least two directors who are not related in any of these ways. This also applies to companies that are also registered as charities.

If you received an award of less than £20,000 in the last 12 months for a project that is now completed and closed, you can apply for a new project. However, the total combined awards for both projects cannot exceed £20,000 in the last 12 months.

They cannot accept applications from:

• individuals or sole traders
• organisations based outside the UK
• companies that can pay profits to directors, shareholders, or members, including companies limited by shares
• organisations who have already submitted an application and are waiting on a decision
• organisations who have already received £20,000 from Awards for All England in the past 12 months
• organisations with an open application for funding from another programme cannot apply to this programme for the same project, during the same period
• organisations applying on behalf of another organisation
  • this includes applications written for you by private businesses or consultants.

They will only consider one application for a project at a time, so please only apply to the programme that fits most closely with your project and the amount of funding you are requesting to deliver it.

If you are a school or an organisation working with a school

They are less likely to fund projects happening in schools and your project must involve and benefit the community outside of the school

They will not fund projects that mainly benefit or involve teachers, pupils, and parents of pupils.

They do not fund activities in schools that:

• improve school facilities or equipment
• help with staff training
• are part of the school curriculum
• the school should already be doing (like teaching reading during school hours)
• take place during teaching times (lunch breaks, or before and after school might be OK).