National Lottery Heritage Fund - new grant guidance and application forms now available


At the end of January, the NLHF issued their new guidance for grants between £10,000 and £250,000 and for grants between £250,000 and £10 million. Both grants will be subject to the same four priorities: saving heritage, protecting the environment, inclusion, access and participation and organisational sustainability. All projects will have to reflect each priority, but the balance of this will be down to each individual project. 

The website explains a bit more about each priority stating what the NLHF mean, what they will do and what they are hoping to achieve within the 10 year strategy period for Heritage 2033, some of which is summarised below. Saving heritage - Conserving and valuing heritage, for now and the future.

 The NLHF want to ensure heritage remains accessible, relevant, sustainable and valued. To do this they will consider three sub categories of Heritage at Risk, Invest in Places and Revitalise and Maintain. Protecting the environment - Supporting nature recovery and environmental sustainability. Support will be given to natural heritage and environmentally sustainable projects that help the UK meet its nature recovery targets and mitigate the impact of climate change on heritage. 

The four sub categories are Landscape, Nature, Environmental footprint and Mitigation. Inclusion, access and participation - Supporting greater inclusion, diversity, access and participation in heritage. The NLHF want to help organisations to ensure everyone has opportunities to learn, develop new skills and explore heritage, regardless of background or personal circumstances. This will take into account the four sub categories of Involve a more diverse range of people in heritage, Enable organisations to remove barriers to access and participation, Support all communities to explore and share their heritage and Accessible digital heritage resources. 

Organisational sustainability - Strengthening heritage to be adaptive and financially resilient, contributing to communities and economies. This means supporting organisations to develop the skills and capacity to ensure a sound long-term future and encourage new heritage investment that benefits communities and economies. This will involve the four sub categories of Support financial sustainability, Support heritage skills development, Provide flexible funding and New finance and investment. For grants in the £10,000 to £250,000 category, there are no deadlines. 

An optional Project Enquiry can be submitted. This lets you get feedback on your project idea before you fill in the application form. 

We always recommend you do this stage! For grants in the £250,000 to £10 million category, deadlines are quarterly. You have to submit an Expression of Interest and, if you are successful, you will be invited to apply. With either grant, always read the guidance notes at least twice, get someone not involved with your project to read through the application and remember, your Church Buildings Team is here to help at Diocese of Lincoln

Find out more about the team with this link

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