Community heritage

Community heritage

A group of people with handmade props and decorations
Act for Action CIC, recipients of a community heritage grant from One Knowsley. Photo: Act for Action CIC.
Celebrating community heritage can help people come together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Since 1994 we have awarded £460million to more than 24,100 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We fund projects that are researching, conserving and celebrating the heritage of a community or place.

These projects could include lots of types of heritage, such as people celebrating living customs or improving a historic green space. What's most important is that the project involves and benefits the community.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • research the impact of a historical event on their town, and share their findings through displays, talks and online
  • investigate the names on a war memorial
  • crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBTQ+ 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

For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.

How to get funding

If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.

People look at a huge illuminated moon artwork suspended in a medium-size church
Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram is 6m in diameter and shows the moon’s surface using stunning NASA imagery. Credit: Jenny Harper.

Stories

Discover the pioneering woman scientist who mapped the moon

Mary Blagg is being celebrated by her hometown with activities to get people interested in her story and scientific heritage.
An aerial view of Albert Avenue outdoor swimming pool in Hull
Albert Avenue outdoor swimming pool in Hull.

Projects

A lido revolution: championing outdoor swimming

The Pooling Resources project, led by Future Lidos, has developed and delivered a digital toolkit to support the revival of lidos across the UK.

Leaders of the project pose for a group photo
From left to right: Scott Cuthbertson, Director of The Rainbow Project, Mukesh Sharma, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Northern Ireland NI Committee Chair, Cara McCann, Director of HERe NI and Adam Murray, Community Development Manager at Cara-Friend.

Projects

Creating Northern Ireland’s LGBTQ+ heritage archive

A collaborative effort will record and share Northern Ireland’s modern LGBTQ+ history.

If you query is regarding our application portal, please contact our support team.