The National Lottery Community Fund has launched an exciting new funding opportunity through its Changemakers partnership, aimed at strengthening the support available to community leaders across England.
The challenges of being a community leader
Community leaders are at the very heart of community-led change, bringing people together to tackle the issues that matter most to communities.
But they face significant challenges.
Many community leaders feel isolated and do not have the supportive infrastructure they need to develop. Managing busy personal lives while working with community issues of growing complexity means some are at risk of burnout. And for others, not seeing themselves as community leaders despite their hugely valuable work can mean they're less likely to seek support.
And community leaders with lived experience of poverty, discrimination, and disadvantage are still underrepresented, and their experience is still undervalued.
What the partnerships will do
The funders want to change the way community leaders are supported to succeed in England. With their funding, they want partners to develop systems that really meet community leaders’ needs, making sure they have what they need to develop, to feel supported, and to reach their full potential.
They want to make sure future community leaders have the support systems they need to thrive too.
Who the funding is for
We want to partner with up to 12 organisations across England. Our partner organisations will work to build strong support systems for community leaders.
We want to fund a range of approaches and models. Communities and their leaders are unique and there is no set approach to delivering this support. It will be up to our partners to define what the offer should be based on need, working with community leaders to co-design support that works for them.
They are especially focused on supporting communities where people feel they’ve had the fewest opportunities to shape the systems and decisions affecting their lives.
You are strongly encouraged to register to one of the webinars before applying to see if your organisation could be a good fit:
Thursday 18th June 2026 - 3pm-3:45pm
Tuesday 30th June 2026 - 10am-10:45am