The Health Lottery’s newly formed foundation hopes to give up to £3m a year in funding through a grant scheme to tackle health inequalities, the organisation said.

The foundation is set to open a fund for grant applications to organisations focusing on chronic disease, disability inequality, healthcare IT, health disparity, preventative care and young people.

The Health Lottery Foundation was set up last month to distribute funds raised from players of the Health Lottery.

“From 23 January 2025, The Health Lottery changed to operate on behalf of The Health Lottery Foundation,” a spokesperson said.

“So from that point forward, the foundation became responsible for distributing funds raised by players.”

The Health Lottery said that since it was launched in 2011, it had raised more than £133m for good causes, funding more than 3,500 projects and supporting more than 769,000 people.

Delva Patman, chief executive of The Health Lottery Foundation, said: “All sorts of organisations will be eligible to apply, from small community projects to national charities.

“By focusing on six themes, we aim to support projects across a wide breadth of society.

“We will allocate funds where we think the money can make the biggest impact.

“We are looking forward to hearing more from projects in Great Britain delivering vital work to support health and wellbeing.”

The fund is subject to a closed application process and a few organisations have been invited to apply privately.

The Health Lottery Foundation will open its application process completely later this year, the organisation said.

It is expected to give out between £2m and £3m a year in grants.

Organisations interested in applying are being encouraged to review The Health Lottery Foundation’s funding themes and join its mailing list to receive updates on application openings.