Through the strategic programmes, The National Lottery Community Fund has invested over £500m of National Lottery funding to tackle some of society’s most entrenched social problems. This is through 58 partnerships comprising of voluntary and community organisations, people with lived experience and statutory bodies. Whilst the programmes are different in who they engage with and the systems in which they work, there are common design principles in how they are delivered.
Partners are valued for their distinct strengths and assets, and decision-making is shared and inclusive
A Better Start is a ten-year programme ending in 2025. The programme funds local partnerships in five areas of England to test new ways of making support and services for families stronger, so that children can have the best start in life.
HeadStart is designed to explore and test new ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 10 to 16 and prevent serious mental health issues from developing. The programme is comprised of six Local Authority led partnerships delivering services from 2016 to 2022.
An innovative employment programme that boosted the opportunities of nearly 26,000 young people aged 18-24 furthest from the labour market, who needed extra support to help them along the path to sustainable employment. Talent Match funded delivery across 21 partnerships from 2013 to 2018, with three receiving sustainability funding to continue through to 2023.
Launched in 2014, Fulfilling Lives supports people who are experiencing multiple disadvantages. The programme funds local partnerships in 12 areas to test new ways of ensuring individuals receive joined up and person-centred services which work for them. We are building on the learning from the Fulfilling Lives programme as part of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) programme ‘Changing Futures’.
Through Ageing Better, which launched in 2015 and ends this year, 14 place-based partnerships have been testing ways to improve the lives of people aged over 50 by addressing social isolation and loneliness within local communities.
Learning from longer-term funding
The scale and longer-term nature of this funding have enabled the strategic programme partnerships to develop the relationships, trust, and learning needed to influence local systems as well as the time and space to take risks and innovate. As a result, there is a deeper understanding of issues where National Lottery funding can achieve positive and long-lasting change. Organisations have often changed ways of working or adapted their strategy.
Larger investments can also bring a level of complexity and create a shift in culture, systems, and policies often rely on leaders with vision and long-term commitment. We’ve seen the impact of this which has enabled us to develop a better understanding of the need to obtain strong local buy-in and building the ‘case for change’ from the outset.
Larger investments can also bring a level of complexity and create a shift in culture, systems, and policies often rely on leaders with vision and long-term commitment
Learning from micro-funding
Our programmes haven’t just focused on large service delivery contracts. Throughout the strategic programmes, micro-funding has been actively embraced and co-produced with some great examples of local community engagement, empowerment and influencing. We’ve seen the impact that small investments can have in terms of shifting culture, policy and decision-making. It creates a space where individuals can contribute their skills and experience and where their voice is heard. It reflects the test and learn nature of the programmes overall and projects grow at their own pace, responding quickly to the needs of communities.
People bring personal experience and valuable knowledge to the discussion; they are not passive service recipients, but partners in the process
Co-production
Our strategic programmes and the partnerships have been co-designed and developed with people with lived experience. Partners are valued for their distinct strengths and assets, and decision-making is shared and inclusive. People bring personal experience and valuable knowledge to the discussion; they are not passive service recipients, but partners in the process.
A relational approach to grant management
The nature of the grants awarded through the strategic programmes has enabled us to apply a relational approach to grant management, providing each funded partnership with dedicated funding and a relationship manager who could develop a deeper, more equal relationship. This focused on providing more intensive support and has really helped us to understand the impact of our funding.
Close and trusted relationships take time to develop, and the approach breaks down the funder/grant recipient relationship. Our grant holders have more open and honest conversations with us, and we have witnessed the benefits that occur when they develop the confidence to adopt similar approaches in their work with local delivery organisations - no matter how small or large the funding.
Summary
This funding has, unsurprisingly, had an impact on our programmes' and partnerships' ability to influence both local and national systems. But we also know that a relationship approach and commitment to co-production and flexibility from the outset are key. This can also be adopted proportionately where smaller or shorter funding is made.
Our goal is also to ensure the impact of ‘how we fund’ is understood and informs the way we approach engagement, planning and decision making. The co-design approach is embraced within The National Lottery Community Fund and it will continue to evolve as the learning grows.
