National Lottery Heritage Grants £250,000 to £10million

Overview

Investment principles

Four investment principles guide all their grant decision making under their 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033:

• saving heritage
• protecting the environment
• inclusion, access and participation
• organisational sustainability

You must take all four principles into account in your application. The strength of focus, and emphasis on each principle, is for you to decide and demonstrate.

The investment principles, and their strategic initiatives, will help them achieve their ambitions for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone’s future.

What they fund

They fund projects that value, care for and sustain heritage for everyone across the UK, now and in the future.  

Heritage can mean different things to different people. It can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations.

This could include nature and habitats, historic buildings and environments, or cultures, traditions and people’s memories. Explore a wide range of the types of heritage that your project could include.

They fund projects that:

• clearly focus on heritage – this can be national, regional or local heritage of the UK
• take into account all four investment principles
• have a clear plan with a defined start, middle and end
• have not already started
• can demonstrate the need for National Lottery investment

It is important to plan your project carefully, including costs, timescales and getting support for your project before you start to fill out an application. 

Their heritage grants can support a broad range of activities and direct project costs, such as:  

• volunteer expenses, new staff posts and training costs  
• capital works, repair, maintenance and conservation  
• professional fees, event costs and activities to strengthen your organisation
• acquisition of heritage and costs associated with the purchase
• costs to join Fit for the Future, a UK-wide environmental sustainability network

Existing staff posts or organisational costs will not be covered unless calculated through Full Cost Recovery which means securing funding for all costs involved in running a project. So you can request funding for direct project costs and also for part of your organisation’s overheads.

Some projects seek to achieve economic growth by investing in heritage. They call these Heritage Enterprise projects. The maximum you can apply for under heritage enterprise is £5m.

Who can apply?

Under this programme, they accept applications from not-for-profit organisations and partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations. 

Here are some examples of the types of organisations they can fund:

• charities, trusts and charitable incorporated organisations
• community and voluntary groups
• community/parish councils
• community interest companies
• faith-based or church organisations
• local authorities
• other public sector organisations

Organisations need to have a bank account, a governing document, and two or more members that are not related or living at the same address.

If you are unsure whether you are eligible to apply, get in touch with your local team by submitting an Expression of Interest.

Partnerships

The encourage you to work with other people to develop and carry out your project.  

A partner is another organisation or third-party body that is integral to the delivery of your project. 

Partners are not subcontractors. They will take on an active role in the project and will be involved in the project. They will help to report on progress, attend regular partnership meetings and support project evaluation.  

If you plan to work with any other organisations to carry out a significant proportion of your project you must formalise your relationship with a partnership agreement.  

If you are making a joint application, you will need to decide which organisation will be the lead applicant. The lead applicant will complete the application, and if successful, receive the grant and provide project updates. We usually expect the owner of the heritage to be the lead applicant. If the lead applicant is not the owner of the heritage, we usually ask them to sign up to the terms of grant. 

Things you need to know

• Your project must not start before they make a decision.
• You must first submit an Expression of Interest to tell them about your idea, and they will let you know if you are invited to apply.
• Deadlines for development and delivery applications are quarterly
• Once they receive your application and all the correct supporting documents, they will assess your application within 12 weeks and, following assessment, it will be assigned to the next scheduled decision meeting.
• For grants under £1m, you must contribute at least 5% of your project costs. For grants over £1m, you must contribute at least 10% of your project costs.
• Payments for development grants under £250,000 are made in three stages: 50% in advance, 30% in advance, and then 20% in arrears. Payments for development grants over £250,000, and all delivery grants, are made in arrears.
• They provide lots of good practice guidance. They recommend that you read the guidance that is relevant to you to help you develop and manage your project.
• They may consider applications for over £10m for truly exceptional heritage projects. If this applies to your project, you should contact your local office to discuss this.