The National Lottery Community Fund

The National Lottery Community Fund is about to launch a new fund, please see below for more information.

Should you require any support with your application, please get in touch.

Advance notice of our Platinum Jubilee Funding programme.

You are receiving this email as we have identified you as someone who will be able to share information with organisations and groups who may not have applied for funding from The National Lottery Community Fund before and may be interested in applying to our Platinum Jubilee Fund.

To mark Her Majesty the Queen’s 70th (Platinum) Jubilee, The National Lottery Community Fund will make funding available to 70 projects across the UK. This is a significant National moment, and we are looking for projects that go beyond simply celebrating it. Instead, we want to fund projects aligned to one or more of our three areas of focus:

1. Across Generations - Strengthening relationships between generations and creating a legacy for future generations.
2. Community Renewal - Supporting new opportunities for people to develop skills and experiences in their local community, as well as opportunities to bring people together in new ways, and in new or different places and spaces.
3. Our Shared Natural World - Deepening our care and action locally for the natural world.

Funded projects will need to be up and running by the time of Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend on the 5 June 2022. We plan to make our final decisions on which projects to fund in Spring 2022. So, we would expect the projects we fund under this programme to start in Spring 2022 onwards.

Funding programme key facts:

• Opens to applications on Wednesday 17 November 2021 and closes at 5pm on Wednesday 15 December, unless 700 applications are received sooner
• Available UK wide but projects do not need to be operating across the UK
• £3.5m is available and we’ll be offering grants of between £30,000 - £50,000
• 70 projects will receive funding
• Funded projects will have up to 2 years to deliver their activities from award
• Awards will not cover capital costs

The Platinum Jubilee Fund will offer eligible groups funding for activities that meet at least two of the following criteria:

• connecting people across generations through doing activities together
• making use of significant local sites or spaces – parks, heritage buildings, community spaces etc.
• considers future generations and how the Jubilee can leave a legacy for them in the community
• creates new opportunities for the people that live locally to contribute and/or to build skills and experience
• starts something new (a set of activities, a group, a community space, a service, a network) that marks the Jubilee as a turning point in the community
• is designed and led by young people who want to be more active in shaping the future of their communities
• starts collective action in relation to the natural world locally - giving more people the opportunity to care for the planet at a local level

We’ll prioritise applications from groups who:

• have not received funding from us before
• do not have a current award with us
• are smaller or medium sized organisations or groups with an annual turnover of under £100,000
• or are organisations that can demonstrate to us that they have significant reach into communities and are able to engage a large number of people to get involved
• work in communities where there is a history of fewer funding opportunities.
• work in areas where we know communities face challenging economic circumstances. You can apply online from 17 November by searching for ‘The Platinum Jubilee’ on our website.

Anyone applying will need to check that they are eligible to apply. If a group or organisation is NOT eligible, even if we love the idea we cannot award funding.

What is an eligible organisation? You can apply if you are a:

• voluntary or community organisation
• registered charity
• constituted group or club
• not-for-profit company or Community Interest Company
• school (as long as your project benefits and involves the communities around the school)
• statutory body (including town, parish, community council or local council).

In addition:

• Organisations must have a UK bank account or building society account. It needs to be in the legal name of the organisation, with at least two unconnected people who are able to manage the account.
• It must be with a UK based bank or Building Society which is covered and authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority, and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. They must also be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
• The account must require at least two unconnected and unrelated signatories to authorise all withdrawals and transactions.
• You will need to submit a bank statement that is less than 3 months old with your online application.
• Your organisation should have at least two unconnected people on the board or committee. By unconnected, we mean not a relation by blood, marriage, in a long-term relationship, or people living together at the same address.
• Groups will need to give the details of a main contact (usually the person completing the application form) and a senior contact (usually someone on the Board or equivalent) – their full names, date of birth and their home addresses (not the address of the organisation)
• If the project works with children, young people or vulnerable adults they will also need to consider how the project will keep people safe and confirm that they have an up-to-date safeguarding policy in place. For more info on safeguarding please take a look at our website.
• Applicants will also need to make sure the project is addressing any potential barriers for people to take part, including communities experiencing ethnic or racial inequity, discrimination or inequality, disabled people, Travellers, LGBTQ+ people, and people who are seeking asylum or who are refugees.

To help answer any questions groups may have about eligibility they can contact platinumjubilee@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

To reach as many organisations on our priority list as possible before the 700 application cap is reached, please share this email with other groups and organisations who you think might benefit from this advanced notice and would be interested in this programme. However, we please ask that you do not share this information on public forums (such as social media, websites etc) before we open for applications on 17 November 2021.

If you have any questions before the programme opens you can contact the team at platinumjubilee@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.

Thank you for your support and cooperation for this important opportunity and celebration.

Best wishes,

The National Lottery Community Fund

Kind Regards

Jacqui Meadows

Stronger Communities Coordinator

07811 849121