John Ellerman Foundation: Museums and Galleries

Overview

The Museums and Galleries Fund aims to help strengthen museums and galleries in the UK, celebrating the unique assets that our regions possess and their benefit to us nationally. They want to help organisations enhance and sustain curatorial development to attract a broader and more diverse public.

They have earmarked 10 per cent of their overall grants budget to be awarded through the Fund, with final decisions made in May 2025 for this round.

They generally expect to make five or six grants for periods of two to three years. While the average grant size is circa £90k they will consider higher amounts for exceptional projects.

What they will fund

They are keen to fund work which has a legacy within and beyond the organisation. They prioritise applications that aspire to achieve outcomes for people working in curatorial roles, the collections they work with and the institutions in which they work. They are particularly interested in proposals which:

• enable new ways of working through innovation, new thinking and fresh approaches both for established curators or those just starting out

and/or

• ensure organisations are able to safeguard and advance curatorial skills and conservation skills, and make the most of opportunities at a time of development or change.

Who can apply

The Fund is open to a wide variety of collection types. They have supported visual and decorative arts, social history and anthropology, science and technology, industrial, natural history collections. You can find out about the grants they have made on their website and through 360 Giving. Accreditation is not required, but applicants are expected to demonstrate:

• high quality delivery in their field at a national level
• national significance, usually through a rare, unique, important or high quality collection
• commitment to collaborative approaches, either as the focus of the request, or at a minimum with a strong track record of partnership working.

In line with their general policy, they favour organisations with an income between £100,000 and £10m, but may fund a larger institution if it is uniquely placed to meet their aim. Local authority, independent museums and contemporary galleries without permanent collections are also eligible.

While their priority is small to medium-sized museums and galleries outside of London, national and/or London-based institutions may also apply if their project brings significant benefits outside of the capital.

Universities are eligible to apply but due to their size and relative financial stability are less likely to be successful, and they therefore recommend a pre-application conversation with a member of the Grants Team.

They are particularly interested in receiving applications from those areas where they have made fewer grants, such as Northern Ireland and Wales.

The organisation applying must be able to demonstrate the following:

• an emphasis on the value of curatorial skills
• a commitment to active collections management, care and review, including disposal
• a commitment to delivering high quality and innovation
• strong leadership and commitment from senior management, board or the governing body
• effective financial management
• the difference a grant would make, to the organisation, the general public or other audiences.

The successful applicants for previous rounds of the Museums and Galleries Fund can be found here.