Big Lottery Fund

Our replication and innovation work supports new solutions to old problems and scaling up tried-and-tested solutions. Learning underpins all of our replication and Innovation work. As well as testing new approaches (innovation) and funding and promoting what works (replication), we are developing approaches to support more effective learning by voluntary and community sector organisations.

Replication

Realising Ambition aims to replicate approaches that support young people to fulfil their potential and avoid pathways into offending and anti-social behaviour.

Innovation

Improving Futures offers intensive support to vulnerable families.

Wider learning

• We are helping to fund the first social impact bond, in which St Giles Trust are working with a cohort of offenders once they leave Peterborough Prison to help reduce the likelihood of their re-offending within two years. Read the Ministry of Justice evaluation.
• We funded the Third Sector Research Centre and the British Library to set up a single entry point for all research relating to the voluntary and community sector. The Knowledge Portal is open for use now, and is fast becoming the key library of published material on the VCS for use by researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders.

What next?

Watch this page for further work in this area, including:

• Peer Learning Online, in which we will help VCS organisations share learning online and have easier access to the host of resources and opportunities that already exist in the virtual world.
• Learning for Impact is a small grants programme that will support collaborative learning between VCS organisations.
• Research for Impact, which will build on our earlier research grants funding by supporting better use of research by the VCS. This initiative will focus on a limited number of themes and support action-oriented research, synthesis and skills-building.

Please contact us if you have any comments or questions.