National Lottery Community Fund splits England director role

The National Lottery Community Fund is to split its England director role, appointing two senior executives, including Emma Corrigan, who was most recently head of design and delivery at BBC Children in Need.

At the NLCF she will be oversee programmes, operations, and regional work.

Also appointed as another of the two England directors at the funder is Phil Chamberlain, who joins from adult education college City Lit, where he was executive director for external engagement. In his new role at NLCF he has responsibility for strategy, partnerships and engagement.

They join in June and will have joint responsibility for more than £450m a year of funding to projects England wide.

The previous England director role was carried out by Elly De Decker, who left last year to become executive director at the Bromley By Bow Centre.

"I am delighted, as someone whose career has centred around quality grant making, to be able to join the Fund to support work of such scale and breadth,” said Corrigan.

“The capacity available to enable communities across the UK is humbling to me, and I am ready to listen to the wealth of knowledge and expertise of the organisation to enact positive and meaningful change where it is needed most."

Chamberlain, who has held senior roles at Youth Sport Trust, Legacy Trust UK and NLCF’s predecessor body the Big Lottery Fund, added: “I am excited to be re-joining The National Lottery family – to help lead and further champion the work of The National Lottery Community Fund to best support the communities and individuals it serves.”

A focus for Corrigan and Chamberlain will be overseeing an overhaul of the NLCF’s strategy. Earlier this year the government announced it wanted to review the funding body’s strategy.



Commenting on their appointment NLCF chief executive David Knott said: “Phil and Emma bring a wealth of strategic and grant-making experience to the Fund, and they join us at an exciting time as we engage with communities as part of our Strategy Renewal process."

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