Invitation to tender (ITT): Learning from time-limited Trusts

In February 2012 Big Local Trust was established as an expendable, time-limited Trust by the National Lottery Community Fund with £217m to deliver the Big Local programme. The programme is a 10-15-year, resident-led programme that seeks to build capacity within disadvantaged communities by transferring decision-making power, and control over financial resources, directly to residents.

Central to the programme is that a group of residents (Big Local partnerships) in 150 geographic communities (Big Local areas) each control over £1.15m in unrestricted and non-prescriptive funding to use as they decide to make their areas better places to live. The programme differs from previous community and regeneration initiatives in that the funding is transferred directly to communities, as opposed to channelled through local authorities or community organisations.

While we have conducted a range of research projects and activities to understand the efficacy of the Big Local model, we have done less to understand how the establishment of an independent Trust with an expendable endowment impacted on its success.

To help us do this, we are looking for an organisation or consortium with experience of delivering high quality research, as well as a thorough understanding of Trusts/Foundations and how the funding ecosystem works.

The budget for each piece of research (2 projects) is up to £25,000, inclusive of VAT and all expenses.

Submitting a proposal

Please send your proposal as a PDF document (including CVs) to research@localtrust.org.uk with ITT: THE TRUST MODEL as the subject line.

Proposals to be submitted by: Thursday 17 July 2025, 3.00pm (UK time).

Following this process, we intend to shortlist a small number of potential providers to invite for interview (online) on the afternoon of 30 July 2025.

However, if you have a question relating to this ITT, please email research@localtrust.org.uk with the subject line QUERY: THE TRUST MODEL.

If you’d like to have an informal chat about the work, please email your contact details to research@localtrust.org.uk and we’ll arrange for a member of the team to call you back.

For a more detailed outline of the brief, please download the full ITT below.

Download the ITT