Grant News

The National Lottery Community Fund has announced that round 2 of the £4 million Local Connections Fund has re-opened for applications.

The Local Connections Fund provides grants of £300 - £2,500 to small, local organisations (with an annual income of £50,000 or less) that are working to reduce loneliness by helping people build connections across their communities.

Round 2 will focus on:

• activities that physically bring people together in a safe and secure way
• remote activities (when this is the best or only way for people to build connections) - for example, remote activities may benefit people who are geographically isolated, people with illnesses or disabilities, or those who are not quite ready to meet people in face-to-face settings
• helping individuals to get out of the ‘lockdown mentality’ and meet people in their communities again
• helping organisations who work to reduce loneliness restart their activities - for example, cleaning and refreshing meeting spaces or refreshing materials, and ensuring equipment is ready to be used.

A total of £2 million is available in this funding round.

The grants can be spent on:

• staff salaries
• volunteer expenses
• management costs
• monitoring and evaluation
• overheads
• general project costs
• small items of equipment, like a laptop.

Organisations that received funding in the first round, will not be eligible for funding in the second round.

The closing date for applications is now 5pm on the 20th August 2021.