This National Lottery Fund offers grants between £1m and £5m to organisations that can support community leaders who are making change in and for their communities.
They want to fund work that:
- enables community leaders to shape the future of their communities
- involves community leaders across communities and organisations - including those from under-represented groups and those with lived experience
- helps community leaders make an impact on wider systems (known as systems change)
- shares what they learn with the sector and other projects they fund
You can apply if your organisation is one of the following:
- constituted voluntary or community organisation
- constituted group or club
- registered charity
- charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
- not-for-profit company
- community interest company (CIC)
- statutory or public body
- community benefit society
- co-operative
- college or university
You can also apply as a partnership but if you are applying as a partnership, you must have worked together already.
To be eligible, you must already have:
- experience supporting community leaders
- experience working with places, people, and communities facing poverty, disadvantage or discrimination
- established relationships with organisations working at a local level
And on your own, or in your partnership, you must have a combined gross annual income of more than £1 million and operate in at least two of these regions:
- Greater London
- South East England
- South West England
- East of England
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- North West England
- North East England
Projects should run for 5 years. In exceptional cases they will fund projects that run for 3 or 4 years.
They expect to fund up to 12 projects in total.
The deadline for applications is midday (12 noon) on 5 August 2026.