About

About

Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.

Who we are and what we do

We are the largest funder of UK heritage. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

We invest money raised by National Lottery players across the UK, in collaboration with a wide range of statutory bodies, as well as other National Lottery distributors. Our work is made possible thanks to the support of National Lottery players.

  • As The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we distribute National Lottery grants from £10,000 to £10million and over, funding projects that sustain and transform the UK's heritage. 
  • As The Heritage Fund, we distribute funding on behalf of the UK and devolved governments to heritage organisations.
  • We provide leadership and support across the heritage sector, and advocate for the value of heritage.

Since we were established in 1994, we have awarded £8.8billion of National Lottery and other funding to more than 51,000 projects across the UK.

Heritage can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations. Understanding, valuing and sharing our heritage brings people together, inspires pride in communities and boosts investment in local economies. 

National Lottery funding

With every purchase of a ticket, National Lottery players raise money for good causes. We are one of 12 distributors of this funding.

We award 20% of the Good Causes income raised by National Lottery players.

Since 1994, the National Lottery has raised more than £48bn for good causes. 

Organisation

We are a non-departmental public body accountable to Parliament via the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Our decisions about individual applications and policies are entirely independent of the government.

The Trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund is our legal body for the administration and supervision of all funds vested in us. It was set up by the National Heritage Act to administer the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund is our sister organisation. It distributes grant in aid/government funding to UK heritage at risk of loss. 

Find out more

We’ve published the first three-year delivery plan for our new 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033. It includes details about our budgets and priorities, and forthcoming changes to National Lottery Grants for Heritage.