Solidarity Fund Scoping and Monitoring Framework Contract

The National Lottery Community Fund is seeking a contractor or consortium to develop a comprehensive framework for the Solidarity Fund, a £250m multi-year programme supporting charitable organisations tackling inequality across England. The contract has three key deliverables: (1) Design an impact evaluation approach to measure the Solidarity Fund's effectiveness, (2) Define the scope for a separate learning and support contract to help grantholders achieve systems change and build community power, and (3) Develop a monitoring framework that produces publishable data for stakeholders. The Solidarity Fund will distribute grants of £1m-£5m over 5-10 years to approximately 60 organisations by 2030, with delivery potentially continuing to 2040. Successful organisations must be led by and accountable to people with lived experience of inequality, and focus on creating lasting systemic change through collaboration, solidarity, and community organising. This scoping contract will establish the evidence and support infrastructure needed to evaluate and learn from the programme's impact on reducing poverty, disadvantage and discrimination.