Future Lidos Appeal

We believe that everyone has a right to the joy that outdoor pool swimming brings.

Future Lidos supports over 170 lidos and campaigns across the UK and Ireland, helping to create, revive, sustain and develop pools and bring this joy to all.

But we’ve reached a crossroads.

We urgently need your support to continue our collective work, and to raise the funds needed to sustain and grow it.

In less than four years, Future Lidos has become a vital collaborative force, shining a light on the value of the 170+ lidos and campaigns across the UK and Ireland and making them individually and collectively stronger.

With the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF)-funded Pooling Resources, we were able to grow lidos’ profile, embrace the whole sector, and create the pioneering Lido Toolkit, transforming the landscape for existing and proposed lidos.

This has created opportunities to go deeper – building collaboration, capacity and resilience, and cultivating advocacy and influence. The need is great, the network is strong, and there’s so much more we can do together.

But we can’t get there without your help.

Since Pooling Resources finished in March, our work has been sustained by the voluntary Steering Group and by our Project Director working without payment on bidding for funding, building advocacy and alliances, running the monthly meetings and responding to enquiries and opportunities.

Though Future Lidos was recommended for funding, our recent application to NLHF for a fresh wave of work was unsuccessful in a highly competitive field. We’ve been encouraged to re-apply, but it’s clear that match funding will be crucial next time.

The time has come to ask for your support.

We need to hit two targets.

£10,000 will sustain our work until March 2025, when we aim to have project funding secured. This will enable the Project Director and Steering Group to identify and submit relevant grant applications (including re-application to NLHF), build on our recent advocacy wins, maintain profile for the sector, and sustain the network. We need to be well on our way to this target by the end of December.

A further £20,000 will provide essential match funding to strengthen our case with NLHF and other funders, enabling us to deliver the collaborative projects and long-term benefits that lidos and their communities need and deserve. This must be in place before any funded project can begin, so our target is March.

Please help us reach these targets, so that we can support lidos, and maximise their enormous benefit to communities, into 2025 and beyond.

Thank you!

Future Lidos

https://www.futurelidos.org/

FAQs

How will donations be acknowledged?

All donations (other than those who chose to donate anonymously) will be credited on our website at www.futurelidos.org.

What if less, or more, is raised than the target(s)?

The first priority will be to keep the work going. If we fall short of the £10,000 target, then sadly we will have to review and scale back our work. This could seriously affect the momentum and connections that have been developed. Once we pass this threshold, any surplus will go towards match funding. If your generous contributions should take us over our £30,000 total target, any excess will be used as additional match funding for future funded projects, or to keep the work going until funding is raised, if it takes longer than we hope.

How will the funds be managed?

As Future Lidos is not yet incorporated, contributions will be held by Our Lido Ltd on our behalf, as was the case for the NLHF grant for Pooling Resources. The use of funds will be overseen by the directors of Our Lido Ltd and the Future Lidos Steering Group.

What will the money be spent on?

£10,000 will enable the Project Director and Steering Group to continue into 2025: -

£20,000 will provide match funding to lever significant grant funding for strategic projects – our aims include: -