We fund a broad range of projects that connect people and communities to the UK's heritage.

What is heritage? 

We don’t define heritage. We ask you to tell us what you think is important and should be preserved.

From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more – heritage can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations.

Your heritage project could include:

• Nature – works to improve habitats or conserve species, as well as helping people to connect to nature in their daily lives.
• Designed landscapes – improving and conserving historic landscapes such as public parks, historic gardens and botanical gardens.
• Large-scale rural projects that help improve landscapes for people and nature by, for example, restoring habitats and celebrating the cultural traditions of the land.
• Oral history recordings of people’s stories, memories and songs, as a way of communicating and revealing the past.
• Cultural traditions exploring the history of different cultures through storytelling, or things that you do as part of your community. This could be anything from dance and theatre to food or clothing. It could also include the heritage of languages and dialects.
• Community archaeology involves the active participation of volunteers in archaeological activities, everything from investigating, photographing, surveying, excavation and finds processing. Sometimes called public archaeology
• Historic buildings, monuments and the historic environment – from houses and mills to caves and gardens. Areas that are connected to history and heritage.
• Museums, libraries and archives – making the collections that museums, libraries and archives hold more accessible through new displays, improving public buildings and galleries, or engaging people with interpreting new and existing collections.
• Acquiring new objects – help towards the cost of acquiring one-off objects or collections as part of a collections development policy.
• Commemorations and celebrations – telling the stories and histories of people, communities, places or events related to specific times and dates.
• Industrial, maritime and transport – places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history.

Projects we've funded 

Need inspiration?

What you can spend the money on

The money you get for your project can be used for:

• Activities: to engage the wider community in your heritage. They might include guided heritage walks, sharing oral histories or workshops. Your activities should link to the heritage focus of your project and be tailored to the needs of the people you want to work with, including any reasonable adjustments that need to be made.
• Repairs and conservation.
• Digital outputs: this could be digital images, sound files or data, a website with heritage material, an app, or a film made using digital technology.
• New staff posts: this could include part of a current employee's role, if they were dedicating a specific amount of time to the project.
• Paid training placements: this could also include training for existing staff, to support the aims of the project.
• Professional fees: includes anyone related to your project in a professional capacity, from architects and heritage professionals to teaching staff.

What you can’t spend the money on

• Existing staff posts or organisational costs: 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.
• Repairs to your own home.
• Legal and/or statutory responsibilities: includes anything that would be paid for regardless, whether the project went ahead or not. For example, rent, utilities, building maintenance, unless you have a heritage enterprise grant.
• Promoting the causes or beliefs of political or faith organisations.
• Recoverable VAT.
• Costs for any activity that has taken place before a grant is awarded.
• Costs for installing artificial grass or plants.

Explore available funding

Do you require further help with your application?

We want to make sure our funding is open and accessible to all. We have set out a plan to meet people’s access needs, from translation services to digital application support.