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The UK’s Lottery Fund has created an Emerging Futures Fund for civil society projects for the future

Innovative response

The National Lottery UK's Community Fund has created the 'Emerging Future Fund', to help communities move towards recovery and renewal after the impact of COVID-19, and draw on all the creativity we've seen in communities and across civil society.

As such, they have set up a UK-wide fund of GBP 1 million, with individual grants ranging between GBP 20,000 - 50,000, for organisations to look at how things are changing, what is needed in this transition, and what is possible in the future.

Specific issues addressed and anticipated impact

The Community Fund wants to invest in the creativity of civil society and help amplify the voices of communities through stories, narratives and public imagination projects that can lead to new ideas, questions and visions of the future. Theyvalue the power of storytelling and know that people and communities are able to use stories and narratives to talk about ideas for the future and how to get there, as well as practical ways that can help us move toward recovery and renewal.

They are looking to fund 3 different types of work:

  1. Exploring new narratives, perspectives and community storytelling.
  2. Community foresight and public imagination.
  3.  Investing in strong signals of transformation

Organisations/institutions involved

The National Lottery Community Fund (UK)

Level(s) of government:
  • Non-Profit/Civil Society

Issues being addressed:

  • Crowdsourcing solutions

Response tags:

Date Submitted:

23 June 2020