You can apply to The National Lottery Community Fund for some of your overheads as well as the direct costs of your project. This page explains how to calculate your overheads so that you can apply for all the funding you need for your project.
Full cost recovery means securing funding for all the costs involved in running a project. This means that you can request funding for direct project costs and for a proportionate share of your organisation’s overheads.
A project is a specific and distinct piece of work that you would like us to fund.
Direct project costs are the costs that relate clearly and directly to a project. These can include salaries for project workers, volunteer expenses and a dedicated laptop for the project.
Overheads are costs that partly support the project, but also support other projects or activities that your organisation provides. These could be a proportion of salaries of core staff such as administrators. They could also be rent and utilities costs or your organisation’s legal and audit fees.
Example
A small organisation runs a lunch club once a week. It does not run any other work or projects. The lunches, venue hire and any volunteer expenses are direct costs. There are no overheads.
The following guidance explains how to calculate the full costs of your project, including the project’s overheads.
Use the project overheads spreadsheet (XLS, 62KB) to calculate the direct and overhead costs for your project and to estimate how much you would like us to contribute to your project
The National Lottery Community Fund
England and UK-wide: 0345 410 2030 Email England and UK-wide
Northern Ireland: 0289 055 1455 Email Northern Ireland
Scotland: 0300 123 7110 Email Scotland
Wales: 0300 123 0735 Email Wales
English language selected Cymraeg
