5 January 2021
National Lottery Local Connections Fund
The Local Connections Fund is a new £4 million fund to help charities and community groups in England that are working to reduce loneliness by helping them build connections across their communities.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Community Fund are investing £2 million each.
This will be used to fund hundreds of ‘microgrants’ between £300 and £2,500, so small, local organisations (with an annual income of £50,000 or less) can bring people and communities together.
Two rounds of funding
The Local Connections Fund will be split into two equal rounds of funding. DCMS will provide the first £2 million round of funding – which will be distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund. This first round will be open for applications on 5 January 2021 and close on 26 January 2021.
Successful applicants for this round of funding must have spent the money and finished their project by 31 March 2021.
The second round of funding will be provided by The National Lottery Community Fund and will launch in the summer of 2021.
Application deadline – 26 January 2021