H 7 · Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
The organisation
The Heritage Lottery Fund was set up in 1994 to distribute funds from the National Lottery to support a wide range of projects involving the local, regional and national heritage of the United Kingdom (excluding the Channel Islands and Isle of Man). In 2002/03 HLF committed over £360 million to more than 2,600 heritage projects. Aboard of 14 trustees and a chair are appointed by the Prime Minister to make decisions about Heritage Lottery Fund grants. The Trustees’ work is supported by grant-making committees in each of the English regions and home countries of the UK.
The Fund’s Strategic Plan for 2002-2007 sets out four aims which guide its grant-making:
to encourage more people to be involved in and make decisions about their heritage
to conserve and enhance the UK’s diverse heritage
to ensure that everyone can learn about, have access to, and enjoy their heritage
to bring about a more equitable spread of grants across the UK.
HLF takes a broad view of heritage to include the many different things that have been and can be passed on from one generation to another. Among these are:
Historic buildings
Records and collections held in museums, archives and libraries, or photographic collections
Oral history
Cultural and local traditions including languages
The countryside and habitats and ‘priority species’ listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan
Archaeological sites
Historic parks and gardens
Objects and sites that are linked to industrial, maritime and transport history.
Heritage education
Since its inception, HLF has awarded over £400 million to support educational activity. This has funded a wide range of large and small projects, enabling the creation of over 223 spaces for learning and 530 full and parttime posts which deliver learning in heritage settings.
HLF has become one of the most important funders of heritage learning in the United Kingdom. Its grants have enabled a remarkable range of innovative and creative projects in the fields of both formal and informal learning to take place. Time and again in this report we have found that the most interesting projects have received the support of this organisation, which is constantly open to new ideas about encouraging more people to participate in and enjoy heritage in its many different forms. Significantly, since 2002 HLF has been able to fund access and education projects led by private owners of heritage assets (including country houses) who previously were not entitled to receive funding, to a maximum grant of £50,000.
HLF has a wide range of grant programmes:
Heritage Grants of £50,000 or more. It caters for a wide range of projects including the very largest and most complicated.
There are also Project Planning Grants available to help in the early planning of projects which lead to an application for a Heritage Grant.
Your Heritage which offers grants of between £5,000 and £50,000.
Awards for All, a programme supported jointly by all the lottery distributors. It awards grants of between £500 and £5,000.
Targeted initiatives include:
Young Roots, which provides grants of between £5,000 and £25,000, to support partnership projects between youth and heritage organisations to promote the involvement of young people, 13 to 25 years old, in their heritage.
Townscape Heritage Initiative which provides grants of between £250,000 to £2 million for partnership projects to regenerate the historic environment in towns and cities.
Public Parks Initiative which helps to restore historic parks and gardens including urban squares and cemeteries.
Repair Grants for Places of Worship which funds urgent repairs for Grade I and II* listed places of worship.
Landscape Partnerships Initiative which supports partnerships representing heritage and community interests to tackle the needs of landscapes.
Local Heritage Initiative which awards grants of between £3,000 and £25,000 to help local groups to investigate, explain and care for their local landmarks, landscape, traditions and culture.
HLF also commissions and publishes research in areas relevant to its grant giving and produces guidance notes for applicants, for example, on designing learning projects.
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