The National Lottery Community Fund, legally the Big Lottery Fund, formed in 2004 by merging the National Lottery Charities Board and New Opportunities Fund, under the National Lottery Act 2006. It adopted its current name in 2019 to highlight its role distributing 40% of National Lottery proceeds—over £686 million in 2023-24 to 13,720 projects, and £767 million in 2024-25 to 12,708 projects across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and UK-wide initiatives.
Headquartered in London as a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, it operates through country-specific committees. Its 2023-2030 strategy, "It starts with community," targets four missions: community connections, environmental sustainability, child and youth thriving, and healthier lives, prioritizing deprived areas—47% of 2024-25 grants went there.
In 2023-24, England received £521 million (10,267 grants), Scotland £52 million, Wales £39.2 million, and Northern Ireland £26.8 million. Recent changes doubled Awards for All grants to £20,000 for two years, with 84% of awards as small grants under £10,000 previously, mostly to groups earning less than £1 million annually. Examples include Learmount Community Development Group in Northern Ireland, Ministry of Life Education in Wales, and Men Matter Scotland. Since 1994, it has awarded over £12.3 billion in 285,000 grants, funding everything from grassroots equipment to multimillion-pound programs.