Local Trust is a national charitable company limited by guarantee. They were established in 2011 by a consortium of partner organisations led by the Community Development Foundation.

Local Trust is a unique organisation supporting resident and community led solutions to create lasting change throughout England. They use a community development approach to resident and community led regeneration of areas. They believe that those who make up the community know best what’s needed and are the most likely to come up with the solutions to make a lasting positive difference to the places where they live, work and socialise.

Their work: They aim to inspire and motivate people to get involved and lead change in their communities.

They do this through Big Local – a radically different investment of £220m from the National Lottery Community Fund – which supports people in 150 places to make a difference to the things that matter most to them in their community.

Their vision of the future is that each community they work with is resilient and confident and their area is a good place to live.

Their mission is to enable residents to make their communities and their areas even better places in which to live.

Local Trust Values

At Local Trust they:

• encourage residents to have greater control over the things that matter most to them; supported by those they trust

• work with others to make a positive, lasting difference

• are open, honest, friendly and supportive

• do their best to keep things simple and clear

• value equality and diversity

• continually seek and learn from experience to develop better ways in which people locally can improve the quality of their lives.

Local Trust Strategy

Local Trust Strategy is to:

• give residents greater control, skills and confidence to make a difference to the things that matter most to them in their communities

• use rigorous research, evaluation and story-telling to learn and develop our approach to achieve greater impact; make resources go further and enable joined up solutions to complex issues

• position Local Trust and those they support to influence the approach of others working in communities including: funders, government, charities and businesses with Local Trust seen as a leading innovator in transforming communities

• widespread change so that residents and those supporting them in communities have greater involvement and control over the things that matter most to them.

Big Local Trust was established by Local Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund with a National Lottery grant of £196,873,499. The grant is an endowment, which has to be spent by December 2026. It funds Big Local, supporting 150 communities in England to make their areas even better places to live.

Big Local is an exciting opportunity for residents in 150 areas around England to use at least £1m each to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their communities. Big Local brings together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make their area an even better place to live.
Big Local is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and managed by Local Trust. Nationally they work with a range of partners to deliver Big Local, building on the skills and experiences of others to provide expert advice and support for residents.

The aim of Big Local is to ensure that people are connected, people have choice, and people are supported to achieve lasting change in the place where they live. Underpinning this is their commitment to support residents over the long term to learn skills and gain the confidence to make decisions in their communities to bring about transformational change. They believe that change should be resident and community led so enabling change through ownership.

The outcomes for Big Local are:

1. Communities will be better able to identify local needs and take action in response to them.
2. People will have increased skills and confidence, so that they continue to identify and respond to needs in the future.
3. The community will make a difference to the needs it prioritises.
4. People will feel that their area is an even better place to live.