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Community heritage

Celebrating our community heritage can help bring people together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded over £500m to 26,700 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We help people who are researching and sharing the history of a community or of a place.

We also fund projects which combine different types of heritage in a particular location.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • research the impact of a historical event on their town. They could then share their findings through displays, talks and online
  • investigate the names on a war memorial
  • crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBT+ community, creating an online archive and exhibition
  • set up an audio trail around a range of buildings, parks and monuments in a town
  • enable a youth group to research their local history and create an animated film about their learnings

How to get funding

Find out about the funding options available.

Dry soil at sunset

Basic Page

How we're tackling climate change

In our corporate plan we have committed to play our part in tackling climate change – both within our organisation and in our grant giving.
A graphic showing different types of heritage organisation feeding into the DASH survey, accompanied by the words "DASH Survey: Helping UK heritage learn more about their people's digital attitudes and skills"
All types of heritage organisation can take the DASH survey

News

Calling all heritage organisations: address your digital needs by taking the DASH survey

What is the DASH survey? Developing digital skills can help heritage organisations weather the COVID-19 pandemic and move towards a more resilient, creative future. But understanding how best to use digital can feel like a large and daunting prospect. The Digital Attitudes and Skills for Heritage
Three people look down over a valley with mountains in the distance
Braemar view. Credit: Cameron Cosgrove

Projects

Cairngorms 2030: people and nature thriving together

We have awarded nearly £12.5million to a life-changing project aiming to preserve the UK’s biggest National Park, bringing communities together to help nature and improve wellbeing.

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