Friends of the Earth receives £5 million from The National Lottery Community Fund

• The grant comes from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Solidarity Fund and will cover a period of five years  
• This will support Friends of the Earth’s new project, Resilient Communities, Thriving Places 

Thanks to National Lottery players, environmental justice organisation, Friends of the Earth, will receive almost £5 million over five years from The National Lottery Community Fund.  

The grant will support the launch of a new project, Resilient Communities, Thriving Places, working in 15 areas on the frontlines of the climate and nature crises across England.

Grassroots organisers will work with communities and Friends of the Earth’s existing network of local action groups to strengthen resilience, develop campaigning skills and build lasting connections.

Only last month, England experienced its hottest day in May on record. As global temperatures rise, the impacts of the climate crisis are already hitting home with increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves, wildfires, storms and flooding.

Everyone is affected by increasing weather extremes but marginalised communities, including people living on lower incomes, disabled people and people of colour, are among the hardest hit, as existing inequalities are exposed and exacerbated.  

Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said:

“We’re delighted to receive this support from The National Lottery Community Fund. This funding will enable us to work with communities most at risk from the climate and nature crises across England to create long-lasting change.  

“Frontline environmental justice campaigners will bring people together to push for fair, green solutions to help tackle pollution, poor housing conditions, high energy costs, lack of access to green spaces and to protect people from extreme weather.

“Thanks to National Lottery players, we’ll create thriving places and communities with the resilience to respond to some of the greatest challenges and opportunities of our time.”    

Research from Friends of the Earth has found that one in five people in England struggle to access green space, including a staggering 1.5 million children under 12, and that people of colour are nearly three times more likely to live in areas with few green or wild spaces. The group also revealed that low-income areas face the worst air pollution in England and Wales.  

By building wider understanding of these direct links between environmental issues and wider social inequalities, Friends of the Earth hopes to use the grant to increase participation in local decision-making and strengthen communities’ ability to influence policy at a local, regional and national level.

The £5 million comes from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Solidarity Fund as part of efforts to address inequity and inequality by supporting experienced organisations working with communities facing poverty, disadvantage and discrimination.  

David Knott, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Community Fund, said:  

“When we created our strategy, we said we wanted to prioritise communities who are the least supported and least heard. We promised to put agency, power, and control at the heart of our funding in England. The Solidarity Fund puts that commitment into practice.

“Lasting change doesn’t happen in a year or two. It takes time to build confidence, leadership, relationships and influence. That’s why we’re making long-term investments in organisations rooted in communities and led by people with lived experience.

“This is about more than funding projects. It’s about funding community power – helping people shape the decisions, systems and institutions that affect their lives. Together, we can build a strong, fair, and more inclusive society.”

ENDS