Coronavirus Resources – Funding Programmes

This page was last reviewed on 18 June.

ART FUND

MDN and Art Fund Covid-19 Recovery Funding

In a new and innovative partnership, Art Fund is contributing £280,000 to Museum Development recovery grant programmes. The funding will reach museums across all nations in the UK who have not yet received public funding or smaller museums fulfilling specific cultural or local need.

Open for applications from the end of June 2020, the partnership will offer grants up to £10,000 depending on regional and national circumstances. The funding will support effective reopening, reengaging audiences and developing new sustainable offers as museums plan for reopening from 4 July 2020.

For full details, eligibility and application guidelines, contact your local MD provider. Links to all MD providers can be found on the Programmes page. In Wales, recovery grants will be distributed via the Federation of Museums and Galleries of Wales.

HISTORIC ENGLAND COVID-19 EMERGENCY HERITAGE AT RISK RESPONSE FUND

Application deadline extended to end of July and the grants can now be used to help reorganisations recover and reopen.

The Covid-19 Emergency Heritage at Risk Response Fund will award grants to help fund urgent maintenance, repairs and surveys at some of England’s locally-cherished historic buildings and sites.

Grants have so far supported heritage organisations with essential costs to keep them afloat, from core staff wages to utility bills. They can now also be used to build the foundations of recovery, which may include new operating and business plans, investing in digital, or the potentially significant costs of reopening.  

Many organisations will need to restructure their sites in order to reopen safely and in line with Government guidance. The grants can cover the costs of managing a heritage site during social distancing, which could include additional staff to help manage queues, PPE for staff and volunteers, training, additional cleaning, implementing contactless payment methods, or temporary structures to help manage visitors, like shelter for queues or additional toilets. .

This, the second fund launched by Historic England to help the heritage sector recover from the effects of the pandemic, is a £3 million temporary funding stream.

Find out more on the Historic England website here. 

NATIONAL LOTTERY HERITAGE FUND SUPPORT (updated 08 04 20)

What is it?
NLHF are making £50million available via a Heritage Emergency Fund to support the UK heritage sector as an immediate response to the COVID-19 crisis. They will be providing short-term funding for organisations delivering heritage projects or running previously funded projects, and safeguarding heritage sites they have previously invested in to ensure they are not lost to the public.

The Heritage Emergency Fund will be available as:

• A fund that organisations can access over the next three-six months as short-term funding to stabilise operations and manage unforeseen risks. Grants of between £3,000-£50,000 will be available.
• A select number of key strategic investments where heritage is identified as at greatest risk. This could include grant increases to funded projects that are currently underway.

Who can apply?
To apply for the Heritage Emergency Fund, you must be:

– a not-for-profit organisation
– a current or previous recipient of a grant directly from NLHF
– an owner, manager or representative of heritage, or be able to show you have delivered participatory heritage activity

You must meet all three criteria above to apply for funding through the Heritage Emergency Fund.

NLHF is not accepting applications from:

• statutory organisations, for example, local authorities, even if you have previously received funding
• private owners of heritage, even if you have previously received funding
• organisations that have previously only received funding from us for activity-based projects under £10,000.
• organisations mainly funded by UK and devolved Governments
• organisations that have already accepted emergency funding from another National Lottery distributor.

When can I apply?
You can apply for the Heritage Emergency Fund from 15 April up to 30 June 2020.

How to apply to the Heritage Emergency Fund

Before you apply
If you have a closed National Lottery Heritage Fund project (you have received your final payment), you can contact your local team to discuss your options before you apply.

If your National Lottery Heritage Fund project is still running, we recommend you speak to your investment manager before you start an application to discuss the options available to you. If you need to apply for any direct capital costs for an existing National Lottery Heritage Fund project, make sure you speak to your investment manager before you apply, as you may be eligible for an increase to your existing grant.

When you are ready to apply
The application form will be available from Wednesday 15 April. To support applicants interested in applying to the Fund, we have prepared a list of application information. You may find it helpful to gather this information before completing your formal application form. If you are applying for £10,000 or more, you also need to send us the following supporting documents:

Supporting documents to send NLHF for applications of £10,000 or more
• An income and expenditure forecast for day-to-day operations, excluding any income and expenditure related to a specific project(s) that you are already committed to for which you have earmarked or restricted funding
• A cashflow forecast prepared on the same basis as the income and expenditure forecast. These documents should relate to the period for which you are applying for funding and include any other income from any other emergency funding sources.

How NLHF will prioritise
NLHF will prioritise organisations that:

• have limited or no alternative access to other sources of support, for example, from Governments, other National Lottery distributors, other emergency funding from trusts and foundations
• have already tried other options to stop being at risk such as putting projects on hold, rephasing milestones, repurposing other funding to support day-to-day operations, minimising costs but maximising the function of existing projects (value engineering)
• are in greater financial risk from COVID-19 due to a reliance on trading or community fundraising income streams
• are in greater financial risk due to limited reserves

What will NLHF fund
The Heritage Emergency Fund is short-term funding to support the immediate actions needed to stabilise operations and manage unforeseen risks. You can apply for a grant between £3,000 and £50,000 to cover unavoidable costs you will otherwise be unable to meet for up to four months. You should only apply for essential costs. Partnership funding is not required.

As a guide you could apply for costs to:
• stabilise your organisation in the immediate term to make sure the vital heritage you care for is not put further at risk by COVID-19 (for example, staff costs to allow you to respond, design and deliver plans)
• help you plan and initiate mothballing of (putting aside or withdrawing from use) your heritage asset/s and other approaches to protecting heritage that is at risk
• run immediate risk management reviews and the actions identified as needed to safe-guard your organisation
• reconfigure business plans, governance and activity needed to help safeguard the fu-ture of your organisation
• cover essential operational costs, for example, site security, maintaining climatic con-ditions for collections, or managing livestock on habitats.

HISTORIC ENGLAND EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND (updated 21 April)

Applications for Historic England’s emergency response fund have now closed (closed 3 May).

ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND SUPPORT

Applications for the Arts Council England (ACE) emergency funding streams have now closed (closed 30 April).

AIM support – Help with making applications
If you need advice or help putting in an application get in touch. Our consultants have considerable experience in developing grants applications and we can offer up to an hour of support to help you work on your application.The support will be made available via our Online Advice Surgeries.For more information on accessing application support contact Margaret Harrison [email protected]

AIM Coronavirus resources
All AIM Coronavirus resources can be found here.