How to apply for up to £70,000 through the People’s Projects to help your local community group
We want to give away up to £70,000 to brilliant community projects across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the ITV Border region through The People’s Projects.
It’s a partnership between ITV and the National Lottery Community Fund, where a public vote will decide which groups get a share of National Lottery funding.
If you’re involved in a project doing great work in your local area you could be eligible to apply.
We want to hear from projects that:
bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities
make communities stronger and more inclusive
help people or communities develop the skills and capacity they need to achieve their ambitions
involve the people you support in the design, development and delivery of your project
support people to create meaningful change in their local community or help it thrive
help people and communities connect by engaging with nature
build connections across different cultures, different communities, or both.
If your project is shortlisted, ITV News will come and visit you to create a film to showcase your organisation’s work.
This will be shown on your regional news programme next year and you’ll also campaign to secure the most public votes.
The public’s favourite projects will win up to £70,000 of National Lottery funding.
Click here to go to The People’s Projects website where you’ll find more details about if you’re eligible and how to apply.
Applications are open until midday on Friday 7 October 2022, or when the limit for applications to this fund has been reached, if this comes sooner.
Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notice can be found via the website.
The People’s Projects is a joint ITV and National Lottery Community Fund partnership.
So what difference can this money actually make?
ITV Central revisited two winning community groups from previous years to see how they've used the money and what it means to them.
Our reporter Matt Ratcliffe met up with 2018 winners The Wellbeing Cafe project from the Loughborough Wellbeing Centre.
It helps people with mental health conditions by putting on a variety of support groups, workshops and counselling services.
The Wellbeing Cafe project won just under £50,000. The funding enabled them to employ more staff and offer many more services to people across Leicestershire.
Our reporter Ravneet Nandra met up with 2019 winners The Growing Together project from the Wolverhampton The Crafty Gardener.
They work with those with learning disabilities and mental health problems to learn new skills like cooking and carpentry, make friends and feel more comfortable in the community.
The Growing Together project won just under £50,000. The funding enabled them to grow more produce on the allotment, buy more equipment and soon, refurbish their kitchen so they can reopen their community cafe and cook with the produce they grow.