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Local Initiatives Fund

You can apply to the Local Initiatives Fund (LIF) to deliver benefits to residents of your ward. Find out how to apply.

Local ward councillors have an annual budget of £13,000 per ward for small grants that deliver benefit to the residents of their ward (subject to the final agreement of the Voluntary and Community Sector Committee). They can go towards a variety of locally run activities like:

  • sports clubs
  • local festivals
  • youth activities
  • estate community events
  • environmental improvements
  • education and training classes 
  • pensioner outings and day trips

Application deadlines

We strongly advise you to contact councillors for each ward prior to applying.

  • Thursday 19 May 2022. Final decisions communicated to applicants in mid-August 2022. However as the time between the local elections and this first deadline is short, councillors may not have enough time to reply before 19 May. Please submit your application form by 19 May whether or not you have already heard back from councillors.
  • Thursday 15 September 2022. Final decisions communicated to applicants in early December 2022.
  • Thursday 12 January 2023. Final decisions communicated to applicants in early April 2023.

Please note that the Local Initiatives Fund normally funds projects in advance of them taking place. It is likely that funding will not be fully confirmed until around three months after the application deadlines. We recommend that you apply at least three months before your project takes place if you need the funding before delivering your project. 

If your organisation submits an application form after any of the dates above, it will be considered in the next round of applications.

Read our application guidance and complete the application form.

Application form and guidance

Covid-19

Please ensure that you keep up to date on the latest Covid-19 guidelines on the council website. Information on carrying out Covid-19 status checks at your venue or event can be found on the Government website.

Previous grants

Please email localinitiativesfund@islington.gov.uk if you would like information on previous grants. Alternatively, please see the Democracy website for the decisions made by the Voluntary and Community Sector Committee who formally agree all LIF grants.

Further information

For questions or more information contact localinitiativesfund@islington.gov.uk. Please also use this email address if you have difficulty contacting a councillor.

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