The Local Communities Fund (LCF)

The Local Communities Fund is now open for applications to the Large Revenue Fund.

What is the LCF

The Local Communities Fund (LCF) is our investment in local people, projects and organisations that help communities thrive. Through a range of grants, the fund supports voluntary and community groups to deliver activities that improve residents’ health and wellbeing, reduce loneliness and isolation, strengthen local resilience, and create stronger, more connected communities.

The fund recognises the vital role community organisations play across Nottinghamshire and aims to empower local groups to respond to the needs of their communities. Funding can support everything from improving community facilities and delivering holiday activities, to tackling environmental challenges, increasing volunteering opportunities, and providing early help for vulnerable residents.

The LCF also supports projects that address the wider ‘Building Blocks for Health’ - the social, economic and environmental factors that influence people’s wellbeing. This includes initiatives that help improve community connections, access to opportunities, financial resilience, safe and welcoming spaces, physical activity, food support and mental wellbeing. By supporting these foundations of healthy communities, the fund helps create long-term positive change for residents across Nottinghamshire.

The LCF offers both revenue funding to help with essential running costs and capital funding for improvements to community spaces and facilities. A new Start Up, Scale Up (foundation) programme also includes support for newer grassroots organisations, helping more groups access funding and grow their impact locally.

Current funding streams include:

Local Communities Fund 2026–28 Revenue for grants of up to £50,000 per year - opens from Monday 1 June and closes at 12pm on Friday 3 July.
Local Communities Fund 2026–27 Revenue for grants up to £20,000 - opening early summer
Local Communities Fund 2026–27 Capital for grants up to £20,000 - opening early summer
Local Communities Fund Foundations Grants for grants of up to £1,000 - opening early summer
Talented Athletes Fund 2026 - 27 - opening autumn

At its heart, the Local Communities Fund is about investing in the ideas, energy and passion of local communities - helping residents come together, take action on the things that matter to them, and build a healthier, more sustainable Nottinghamshire for the future.

Eligible organisations

We encourage applications from eligible organisations. These include:

Charities registered with the Charity Commission* (e.g., Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs), unincorporated associations, trust, or charitable / not-for-profit companies limited by guarantee).
Voluntary or community groups that are not registered as a charity (e.g., the group could be set up as an ‘unincorporated association’ or an ‘excepted’ charity as defined by the Charity Commission*).
Friendly societies or industrial and provident (community benefit) societies with charitable purposes and registered with an appropriate regulator.
Community benefit or cooperative societies.
Community Interest Companies (CICs) with charitable aims, community purpose and limited by guarantee.
Social enterprises that are set up using a recognised legal form.
Sports clubs – providing activities for the wider community (where paid membership is not needed in order to access the provision).
Parish or town councils (Capital funding only).
Any community group with a constitution.

* Please refer to the Charity Commission for further information.

Organisations which are not eligible

The following are not eligible to apply to the Local Communities Fund:

National organisations - a national charity (or local branch thereof) that cannot adequately provide evidence that funding is being solely spent in Nottinghamshire or for the benefit of the residents of Nottinghamshire.
Borough and district councils and any other public sector organisation
Any organisation who is applying on behalf of another organisation.
A district or borough council acting as an accountable body for a local voluntary or community group.
Companies that can pay profits to directors, shareholders, or members (including companies limited by shares).
Sole traders and individuals.

Funding criteria summary - Local Communities Fund (LCF)

To be eligible for the Local Communities Fund, applicants must demonstrate that they have appropriate and satisfactory governance arrangements in place and that their project is clearly aimed at benefiting residents of Nottinghamshire.

The following criteria apply across both the Revenue and Capital programmes (unless otherwise stated):

Community engagement - a strong emphasis is placed on meaningful community involvement. Applicants are expected to demonstrate how local people have been engaged in shaping the project’s design, development, and delivery. Evidence of engagement is essential and may include consultation activity, surveys, stakeholder or public events, direct discussions with service users, social media engagement, or other methods that show how community insight has informed the proposal. Projects should also demonstrate how they will strengthen community connections.
County councillor endorsement - all applications must include an endorsement from the relevant Nottinghamshire county councillor for the area where the project will take place or where an asset will be installed. This reflects the importance of local democratic input and ensuring projects are rooted in community priorities.
Endorsements are submitted through a dedicated form within the application process. It is the responsibility of the applicant to share this form with the appropriate councillor, who will complete it for each project they choose to support. Contact details for all county councillors are available at: Contact a councillor | Nottinghamshire County Council

In summary, the LCF prioritises well-governed organisations, projects that directly benefit Nottinghamshire residents, strong evidence of community involvement, and clear local democratic support.

Governance requirements

Governance is about the way your organisation is set up and delivered. The council is accountable for public funds and therefore reviewing the governance arrangements that organisations have in place helps to reassure the council that an organisation is:

operating in line with the law AND in line with relevant regulation;
operating in line with its own governing document; and,
able to effectively manage public funds and fulfil the monitoring requirements.

To satisfy the Local Communities Fund requirements, applicants must ensure that they have satisfactory governance arrangements in place.

Match funding

Match funding is required for Capital and Small Revenue applications, but not for the Large Revenue applications.

Read the complete guidance: Local Communities Fund Guidance for Applicants 2026-28 [PDF]

County councillor endorsement

All Local Communities Fund Revenue and Capital applications must include an endorsement from an elected Nottinghamshire county councillor for the area where the proposed project or asset will be delivered or installed. This helps ensure projects are connected to local communities and supported by local elected members. Please note that councillor endorsement does not guarantee funding approval.

As part of the application process, organisations will be provided with a dedicated endorsement form link within their online application. Applicants are responsible for sharing this link with their chosen county councillor, who will complete a short endorsement form if they wish to support the project. The endorsement link can only be accessed by a Nottinghamshire county councillor.

Applicants are encouraged to contact their local councillor early to discuss their proposal and seek support: Contact a councillor | Nottinghamshire County Council

If you are a county councillor and require support with the endorsement process, please contact the LCF team at LCF@nottscc.gov.uk.

Acknowledging funding and logos

If you are successful in securing funding, one of the conditions of this is that we must be acknowledged as a funder as part of all publicity, including any written or spoken public presentations.

Before finalising any celebration event and news release, please contact our communications team at news@nottscc.gov.uk to check councillor availability and to arrange a press comment well in advance.

We want to share your stories about how this funding is benefitting local communities, so do tag us in to posts about your LCF-funded projects; @nottinghamshire for Facebook , @nottscc on X or @nottscountycouncil on Instagram.

Our logos below must be used to help promote the financial support of the council and must never be altered in any way. This includes using them for news releases, webpages, leaflets, signage and any plaques. NB. We are unable to provide or order any plaques or signage on a group's behalf.

Nottinghamshire County Council logo against a white background. Accompanied by 'Supported by' text.

If you require larger or higher quality files, please contact our communications team.

Please follow the brand guidelines outlined in the acknowledging funding and publicity guidelines.

If you are successful in securing funding, we must be acknowledged as a funder as part of all publicity, including any written or spoken public presentations.

Further key points

Organisations should ensure that any grant awarded is not ‘double funding’ (e.g., the grant must not be used to pay for the same items paid for by other means). If you were awarded NCC funding previously you cannot use that towards any new funding.

Organisations must have at least a minimum two signatories as legally required, but we recommend obtaining three as best practice as this allows for more contingency. Signatories must not be related to each other. Organisations are required to provide three months of recent bank account statements.

Please see the funding criteria summary section for further support

Apply for the LCF

Visit the links below for guidance pm the LCF and how to complete the application form:

LCF 2026-28 - guidance document [PDF]
LCF 2026-28 - guide to completing the application form [PDF]