Applying to National Lottery Awards for All for sports and arts-focussed projects

Published: 14 Nov 2023

A blog from The National Lottery Community Fund

Looking for a small grant for an arts or sports focussed project? National Lottery Awards for All Scotland may be able to help.

This popular small grant scheme awards funding to grassroots groups and is delivered in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund (The Fund), Creative Scotland and sportscotland.

In this blog, we explain what this partnership means for our National Lottery Awards for All customers and, in particular, those who are applying for funding for sports and arts-focussed projects.

Our partnership approach

National Lottery Awards for All broadly funds three types of project: those that are arts-focussed, sports-focussed and community-focussed.

When you submit an application for funding it is reviewed by The Fund. Community-focussed projects are then assessed and funded by The Fund, whilst arts and sports-based projects which are not aimed at broader community benefit are considered and funded by separate Creative Scotland and sportscotland decision panels.

Each distributor has their own budget and funding priorities relating to the area they fund.

Recent changes to National Lottery Awards for All means that projects that have wide community benefit and are a priority for The Fund can now apply for up to £20,000 for a project lasting up to two years. This change reflects one of the ambitions of its new UK wide strategy which prioritises injecting more funding into grassroots community projects designed by and led by local people.

Creative Scotland and sportscotland are continuing with their agreed approach of awarding funding of up to £10,000 for up to 12 months.

If you are looking for funding for a community focussed project that does not predominantly focus on sports or creative activities please read this blog.

For arts and sports focussed projects, read on.

What you can apply for

For groups applying to National Lottery Awards for All for projects with a primarily sports or arts focus, you can apply for up to £10,000 for your activity, for a duration of up to 12 months.

You can only hold one National Lottery Awards for All grant at a time, regardless of whether you have an arts, sports or community project.

What we can fund

All projects applying to National Lottery Awards for All must do at least one of these things:

• bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities
• improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
• help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.

Whilst we recognise that some sports and arts projects will also deliver community benefit, applications for those that are primarily focussed on bringing a group of people together to participate in arts or sports activities will be considered by Creative Scotland and sportscotland decision panels. So, for example a football or archery club, an arts programme in a community hall or film workshops for young people.

We also look for extra things when you are applying for funding for a sports or arts project.

Priorities for sports and arts projects

National Lottery Awards for All is one of the most competitive National Lottery funded programmes and budgets are tight.

Meeting the following criteria will strengthen your chances of being awarded funding.

For sports we’ll prioritise projects that involve:

• young people from deprived areas - where there might be social and financial restrictions to sport and physical activity, lack of facilities and equipment to enable participation or issues connecting young people with crime
• girls and young women
• young people with disabilities.

A strong application will clearly show how your project will increase participation and access to your sport or reduce barriers for these priority groups to engage in your sport or physical activity. If your project does not specifically address one of these priority groups, you can still apply but you need to be aware that we will prioritise applications that do.

For projects focussed on arts, film or other creative areas, we will prioritise work which removes barriers and increases access for people across all parts of society, and widens the reach of our funding across Scotland and into diverse communities.

We will not prioritise applications:

• requesting equipment and materials only although you can include costs for equipment and materials as part of a wider project budget.
• that do not evidence a rate of pay for artists which is at least the recommended industry rate. Creative Scotland is committed to promoting fair pay, conditions and employment opportunities across the creative sector, which means ensuring arts and professionals in the creative community are paid fairly and appropriately for their time and effort. Guidance on rates of artist pay is available on the Creative Scotland website.

If your group has existing funding from Creative Scotland Regular Funding or Culture Collective programmes you should email communities@creativescotland.com for advice before applying.

Last but not least, how to apply

You can apply for National Lottery Awards for All funding online. Before you complete the application make sure to read our eligibility criteria and funding priorities on ‘The projects we fund’ tab on the website.

We are also happy to chat over your project idea with you ahead of applying. You can email us at advicescotland@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk or call us on 0300 123 7110. We are always happy to help.