Our application portal will be closed for essential upgrades from 24th March until 28th April
During this time you will not be able to start or submit an application. Any applications that have not been submitted by 11.59pm on 24th March will be lost. You can start a new application when the portal reopens.
From the £100 million endowment held in trust by the Millennium Awards Trust (MAT) to contributions from key partners.
The Millennium Commission was set up in 1993 to disburse National Lottery grants to initiatives that would mark the arrival of the third millennium and change the face of the UK for generations to come. In 1996, the Commission launched the Millennium Awards Scheme, enabling tens of thousands of individuals to obtain the funding they needed to develop their own skills and talents and to devise and deliver community projects. Independent research on the social and economic impacts of the scheme found that grant recipients were able to benefit their communities in ways that statutory bodies and institutions found difficult.
In June 2000, the Commission launched a competition to identify a charitable organisation to receive a Millennium Legacy of £100 million, which would be held as a permanent endowment in perpetuity for the delivery of grants to individuals across the UK.
UnLtd, formally known as The Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, was successful in winning oversight of the £100 million endowment. UnLtd holds the £100 million endowment in trust; the Millennium Awards Trust (MAT). We do not own the endowment; we are the sole corporate Trustee of MAT. The Millenium Awards Trust funds UnLtd’s day to day operational activities, and our core Awards programme.
UnLtd have a range of partners who support our work through funding our tailored Award programmes. Our current Award programmes are listed here. If you’d like to find out more about individual partners and where their funding originates from, please see the further detail section below.
If you are awarded through our Access to Employment programme, the funding you will receive will originate from the Millenium Awards Trust.
If you are awarded through our Funding Futures Programme, the funding you receive will originate from the Co-op Foundation, Phoenix Group, or the Millenium Awards Trust.
If you are awarded through our Healthy Ageing programme, the funding you will receive will originate from the Millenium Awards Trust.
If you are awarded through our Movement for Change programme, the funding you receive will originate from Sport England or the Millenium Awards Trust. The contribution we receive from Sport England is classed as public funds and is therefore subject to subsidy control. If you apply for a Movement for Change Award, we may get in touch with you to ensure that any funding you receive will not put you in breach of these regulations.
Sport England is the trading name of the English Sports Council, which was created by Royal Charter in 1997 to foster, support and encourage the development of sport and sporting excellence. Sport England is answerable to Parliament through the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), which is the sponsoring department. Funding is from two different sources: the government and the National Lottery. An Annual Funding Agreement sets out the funding that Sport England receives from the Government.
The Co-op Foundation is the Co-op’s charity. The Co-op Foundation is funded through donations from Co-operative organisations, members, customers, and employees.
The UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business, Phoenix Group are home to a family of pensions, savings, and life insurance brands. They invest in local communities through fundraising, volunteering, resource donation and community investments.