Photo by Helena Dolby for Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust
The National Lottery Community Fund
What is the National Lottery?
The National Lottery – and with it National Lottery funding for good causes like heritage, arts, sport and charities – was established in 1994. Every ticket sold contributes funds that so far total £37 billion pounds, distributed across the UK.
National Lottery funding through the National Lottery Community Fund has helped Wildlife Trusts to achieve many amazing things for people and wildlife over the years.
About the National Lottery Community Fund
The National Lottery Community Fund is one of 12 distribution bodies for the National Lottery and is one of the largest funder of community activity in the UK. In 2016/17 alone, it awarded £712.7 million and supported more than 13,814 projects across the UK for health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
It funds projects and activities “that make communities stronger and more vibrant, and that are led by the people who live in them.”
The aims of Wildlife Trusts align perfectly with this aspiration, making us ideal delivery partners to run projects that really make a difference to the local environment as a whole - we help people connect with nature and each other and in doing so, provide opportunities for people to take action for wildlife and its habitat in the places that are closest and most important to them.
Our Bright Future
The Wildlife Trusts have a longstanding relationship with the National Lottery Community Fund through its experienced grants team, who manage large scale programmes on behalf of the National Lottery Community Fund and other funders. It is currently lead partner of Our Bright Future, a £33 million programme, which brings together the youth and environmental sectors.
Photo by Matthew Roberts
Making it Possible to Engage and Transform Communities
Funding from the National Lottery Community Fund has helped us deliver a range of projects, from Inspiring people to learn life skills through nature to creating community green spaces and gardens for local people to meet and share interests, woodland therapy to address mental health issues and creating a traditional wildflower meadow from a derelict piece of land for local people to engage with and enjoy.
“Our Bright Future is an innovative movement for change. It is brilliant that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised that societal and environmental challenges are two sides of the same coin. The programme supports young people to develop the skills needed to thrive in the workplace and it does so through the environment. We want to see a generation of courageous and wise leaders empowered to change our world for the better.”Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts
