National Lottery funding to boost Family Lives’ digital capabilities

Family Lives is celebrating after being awarded a grant from the National Lottery funding to transform our digital capabilities.

 The new grant from the UK’s biggest funder of community activity will enable us to look at ways to use digital innovation to help us support more families by ensuring they can access help in the way they need it, at the right time. We want to be innovative and ambitious in how we use digital to help families, looking at the latest developments and technologies available. 

Joe Ferns, UK Knowledge and Portfolio Director at The National Lottery Community Fund said: “In a digital society it’s important that charities and community organisations are not only able to adapt to be fit for the future but can harness the power of digital to identify new opportunities to improve services to support more people. Now, thanks to National Lottery players, these organisations can increase their digital capacity to have a greater impact in communities and support our sector to thrive in the digital age.” 

In total, 8 organisations have been successful within this round of The National Lottery Community Fund’s Digital Fund and will collectively receive £3.4 million to help them grow their digital capabilities, particularly around their operations and service delivery.   

The announcement follows the launch last week (11 July) of The Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology (CAST)’s Digital Field Catalyst project, which has received £500,000 in National Lottery funding to support small civil society organisations across the UK incorporate digital ways of working and tools into their activities. 

In addition to the grant, Family Lives will benefit from being part of an ecosystem of support set up for Digital Fund grantees, made up of Doteveryone, CAST, Shift, Snook, The Dot Project, and a network of coaches and mentors. This support will range from help with recruitment and Board level engagement through to responsible tech practices, service design and data audits.  

Grantees will also collectively document and share learning between themselves and the wider sector – a key aim for The National lottery Community Fund when setting up the Digital Fund. 

The digital fund was developed through a series of one-to-one interviews and workshops, and builds on The National Lottery Community Fund’s previous experience of supporting the voluntary sector’s digital transition, which extends back over a decade.  

The announcement is also a key part of The National Lottery Community Fund’s commitment to enabling civil society to be fit for the future – supporting organisations and the voluntary sector to create opportunities to help local communities thrive. 

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk   

About The National Lottery Community Fund  

We are the largest funder of community activity in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people.    

We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.