Building Connections Fund – Big Lottery and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

The £11.5 million Building Connections Fund is a partnership between Government, Big Lottery Fund and the Co-op Foundation which was set up in response to the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness to support projects that prevent or reduce loneliness.
The fund aims to:

• increase social connections, helping people form strong and meaningful relationships and creating a sense of community and belonging, and helping people feel more connected
• support organisations to build on their existing work, eg by reaching more people, or working in a new area or with a different method or group of people
• encourage organisations to join up with others locally
• improve the evidence base and use learning to inform longer term policy and funding decisions.

The fund is split into two strands. All grants will be made by December 2018 and can run until March 2021.

1. Main fund strand. The main fund is made up of close to £9 million, which will be distributed by the Big Lottery Fund, making grants of between £30,000 and £100,000. This is open for applications now with a closing date of 24 August 2018.
2. Youth Strand. The Youth Strand is made up of £2 million, which will be distributed by the Co-op Foundation, making grants of up to £80,000. It will open for applications in August 2018.

https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/building-connections-fund