Recommendation 15

The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF) told us that it undertook regular surveys of customers who were accessing its funding. TNLCF explained that 77% of its customers rated their experience between eight and 10 out of 10, with 10 being the highest score; and 75% of respondents noted that as a result of the funding they were able to reach people that they were not working with previously. Additionally, it told us that the survey showed promising results around improved mental health, wellbeing and loneliness, both for recipients but also for volunteers working for the charities. Four out of five (81%) beneficiaries said that their mental health and wellbeing had improved and 86% reported a reduction in isolation and loneliness. Almost two in three said that the CCSF funding had enabled them to improve social connections. TNLCF reported that the funding enabled around 40% of projects to bring back staff who had been furloughed to allow them to continue to deliver services and increase the services on offer. It also told us that one of the great strengths of CCSF was that it brought together national lottery funding with funding direct from government. As a result, those organisations which had a religious or moral objection to receiving funds generated through the proceeds of gambling were still able to access funding. It explained that it planned to undertake a full evaluation to establish the impact of the fund more generally which would report in summer 2021.50