#iwill Fund Extension and Youth Volunteering Research

On Thursday 7 July, DCMS and the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) jointly announced a £12 million extension to the #iwill Fund, creating further social action opportunities for young people throughout England.

Initially launched in 2016, the Fund has a goal of making social action a part of life for all young people, focusing on those who would not normally have the opportunity to participate.

The #iwill Fund distributes its investment through working in partnership with other funders. A collaborative group of 30 Match Funders have joined the #iwill Fund to date by match funding the investment on at least a £1:£1 ratio, developing funding programmes that enable more young people, particularly from less affluent communities, to take part in high quality social action that builds a habit for life. The five investment drivers that underpin our investment are:

• Create high quality youth social action opportunities
• Focus on creating a habit for life
• Reach young people who have not previously undertaken sustained youth social action
• Focus on sustainability of delivery and sustainability of the youth social action for the young person
• Have youth voice within the funder / delivery organisations and the project itself.

Additional funding is available for Match Funding (funding must be matched on a 1:1 basis). It is providing funding for youth social action opportunities provision (both general/universal and targeted provision) and is building on our current work on reducing the socio-economic participation gap and to continue to share learning on how to do this. If you are a funder who would like to work in partnership with the #iwill Fund (as a Match Funder) or would like further information on the #iwill Fund please get in touch with either Helen Whyman, Head of Funding (#iwill Fund) helen.whyman@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk or Jolanta Astle, #iwill Fund Manager jolanta.astle@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

If you are looking for grant funding for direct delivery, rather than investing as a Match Funder, you will need to apply directly to one of the #iwill Fund Match Funders. Each Match Funder will have different approaches to awarding funding. For an update on each match funder go to #iwill Fund | The National Lottery Community Fund (tnlcommunityfund.org.uk)  To stay up-to-date sign up for the #iwill campaign newsletter. You can also see the latest news by following #iwillFund on twitter.

Voluntary Action Leeds