Wolfson Foundation: Funding for libraries & archives

Overview

Funding for places

About 85% of their funding is for capital infrastructure – buildings (new build or refurbishments) and equipment. These awards support excellence across education, science & medicine, heritage, humanities & the arts and health & disability.

These grants are for capital initiatives, i.e. buildings (new build or refurbishment) and equipment.

Who can apply:

Registered or exempt charity (or equivalent) or local authority

Location of applicant and project:

UK only

Funding covers:

New build, refurbishment and equipment to improve access to nationally significant collections

Minimum grant amount:

£15,000

Usual grant range:

£15,000 – £100,000

Match funding required:

Yes, if project cost is >£50,000

Decision dates:

June and December annually. Projects must not be completed before a funding decision is made

Wolfson funding programme:

Heritage, Humanities & the Arts

Eligibility

They support libraries and archives caring for nationally significant collections and which have a clear emphasis on public access and engagement. They usually award grants to collection storage facilities and research, education or interpretation spaces.

Your library or archive should:

• be operated by a registered charity or a local authority
• be fully accredited under the Archive Service Accreditation Scheme
• be open and accessible to the public for most of the year, with a reasonable number of visitors. They know that COVID-19 continues to affect visitor numbers and understand that the environment for many public sites has changed
• hold a permanent collection of national significance
• For organisations based in England this is generally defined as holding a Designated Outstanding Collection (Arts Council England). Where a collection is not recognised under this scheme, or a national designation scheme is not in place, you should make a strong case for the significance of the collection within a national context.

Your project should have at least one of the following aims:

• Enhanced care of collections of national significance
• Better public engagement with and understanding of collections
• Increased numbers of visitors to libraries and archives
• Improved future sustainability of the organisation
• Conservation of architectural heritage.

If your project is at a secondary school or sixth form college, please visit the page about their funding for secondary education.