Grant News
The UK government has extended its Know Your Neighbourhood Fund, bringing total investment to £34.5 million to help people in deprived areas volunteer and reduce chronic loneliness within communities.
Run by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the scheme will now run until March 2026 after an additional £4.5 million was announced in April 2025. Funding will be channelled through delivery partners including UK Community Foundations, Arts Council England, and Historic England.
The programme supports 27 local authority areas across England, including Barnsley, Blackpool, Hull, Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton, etc. Eligible projects are those that create opportunities for people with little experience of volunteering or those at risk of isolation.
Of the new funding, £2.6 million will be distributed via local community foundations, £1.5 million through the arts, and £250,000 dedicated to heritage activities.
Examples of funded initiatives include creative programmes such as choirs, puppetry, costume-making, art trails and storytelling events, with groups like Ramsgate Carnival and Parade Club delivering drumming and performance workshops. Social connection projects include Bideford Library’s Chatty Café and the Rosmini Centre’s friendship and English groups for migrant communities.
Other schemes focus on training volunteers, such as Read Easy Fenland’s literacy coaching, and expanding networks, like Cambridge Community Arts’ Creative Fenland project. Support also extends to families with children with additional needs, and to LGBTQ+ groups such as Blackpool’s Electric Pink Voices, which ran choirs and book clubs to counter isolation. Museums and libraries have also used funding to expand arts and culture offers, building wellbeing alongside heritage engagement.
The full list of eligible areas can be found on the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund website. (link below).
Useful Links: