Youth social action gets funding boost
Derren Hayes
Friday, July 8, 2022
An additional £12 million is to be invested in youth social action programmes through the #iwill Fund.
The fund, a joint investment between the National Lottery Community Fund and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), supports young people to access social action opportunities.
Both funders have each announced an additional £6 million taking the total investment to £66 million. The #iwill Fund distributes its investment by working in partnership with other funders to create an environment of learning and mutual collaboration.
Since launching in 2016 the #iwill Fund has worked in collaboration with over 30 Match Funders that match #iwill Fund monies on at least a pound for pound basis and develop #iwill Fund projects.
The new funding is primarily aimed at Match Funders that are new to the #iwill Fund and are developing their own youth social action funding projects through grant funding to other organisations.
Announcing the funding this week at Young Manchester, which has been a #iwill match funder since 2017, receiving £2.5m for the Youth and Play Fund, Nigel Huddleston, minister for civil society and youth, said: “We know that participation in social action, such as volunteering, fundraising, and campaigning, can have a transformative impact on the lives of young people.
“The #iwill Fund is creating projects and programmes to make this happen, so I'm very pleased that this £12 million funding boost will significantly enhance the opportunities for young people to learn and come together across the country.”
