The National Lottery Community Fund has announced a call for proposals for Young Start to help young people aged eight to 24 to become more confident and play an active part in realising their potential.

National Lottery Community Fund wants to fund work that achieves at least one of the following three outcomes:

• children and young people have better physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
• children and young people have better connections with the wider community
• children and young people get access to new skills and training opportunities which will help them to get a new job or start a business.

National Lottery Community Fund also believe that the following three approaches are vital in making sure that their funding makes the biggest difference possible. They want to fund work that is:

• people-led – meaningfully involving the young people you’re working with in the development, design and delivery of your activity
• strengths-based – making the most of, and building on, the skills and experiences of young people and assets within communities
• connected – having a good understanding of what others are doing locally, developing good working relationships and complementing and adding value to other relevant activity in your area.

Funding Information

Funding size: £10,001 to £100,000

Eligibility Criteria

You can apply if you’re a voluntary or community group, such as a:

• voluntary association with a constitution
• charity
• sports club
• co-operative
• social enterprise
• housing association
• community interest company.

Your organisation also needs a governing document, a committee or board with three or more members, a bank account and annual accounts.

National Lottery Community Fund can fund some or all of your project costs, including:

• staff
• activity costs
• training
• volunteer expenses
• equipment
• premises costs
• evaluation
• overheads
• minor building refurbishment or landscaping work as part of your overall activity.

For more information, visit National Lottery Community Fund.