Last Updated: 21st August 2023
Anyone who has embarked upon a digitisation project will know that this comes at a cost. From the initial collection and transportation of delicate archives to the digitising, transcription and publishing of that material, time and handling add up. Consequently, funding can present a real issue.
This is exactly why TownsWeb Archiving set up its annual grant scheme back in 2017, and it looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. This year (2023) we saw three successful winners, but demand was high and many applicants were unsuccessful, which is hard for everyone. However, there are other funding options available, so if you were one of those organisations, don’t be disheartened, we’ve made a quick reference directory to help you find that vital funding you are looking for.
It is our hope that through new and existing funding opportunities, the barriers and obstacles to digitisation will slowly and surely be overcome, paving a much smoother journey from physical to digital, and the freedom, security and accessibility that this provides.
The TownsWeb Archiving Digitisation Grant accepts applications for UK-based heritage digitisation projects. Applicants bidding for the funding awards of up to £9,000 (3 x £3,000) have ranged from business and local authority archives, national museums and university special collections, as well as public and private libraries and galleries.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Digitisation of public and private archives |
| Opens | Annually - June |
| Closes | 6 weeks later |
| Grants Available | For 2023:
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| Helpful Links | www.townswebarchiving.com/digitisation-funding-grant |
Arts Council England announced a rescue package of £1.57 billion in grants and loans following the COVID-19 pandemic and it is understood that this will be available to heritage institutions across the UK through a number of different recovery funds and grants.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project |
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| Opens | Always open |
| Closes | Various |
| Grants Available | Recovery funds, grants and open funds |
| Helpful Links | www.artscouncil.org.uk/ProjectGrants |
The British Library offers a range of grants solely for the protection of ‘endangered Archives’ which they aim to make as widely accessible as possible. Material covered includes: written, pictorial or audio formats, including manuscripts; rare printed books; documents; newspapers; periodicals; photographs; and sound recordings dated before the middle of the twentieth century.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | For archives that are classed as ‘endangered’ and in need of preservation through digitisation due to their cultural significance. |
| Opens | September |
| Closes |
Various |
| Grants Available |
|
| Helpful Links | eap.bl.uk/grants |
The Charles Hayward Foundation Main Grant programme 'Heritage and Conservation' seeks to support projects that are unique and of national importance, inviting applications from UK charities in respect of heritage, preservation and conservation projects. The grant covers funding for pictures, manuscripts, books and objects for public display, use and interest. It also covers the development of libraries, museums and galleries, and adaptations of heritage sites for education.
The Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund is run in partnership with the Museums Association and awards up to £1.2million per year to projects that “have a strong link between relevant collections and audiences; are able to use the project to contribute to the long-term plans of the organisation(s); and are ambitious, interesting and sometimes exploratory”. There are two types of grant and both have a two-stage application process.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Projects that offer, “outstanding ideas that demonstrate the significance, distinctiveness and power of collections to people”. |
| Opens | 2 Rounds each year: Summer & Autumn |
| Closes | July & September |
| Grants Available |
|
| Helpful Links | www.museumsassociation.org/collections/esmee-fairbairn-collections-fund |
Garfield Weston provides funding to, “a broad range of organisations and activities that share a commitment to making a positive impact to the lives of the communities in which they work,” and this covers the arts and museums and heritage.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Garfield Weston Foundation - arts, heritage and preservation |
| Opens | Currently open |
| Closes | Not specified |
| Grants Available |
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| Helpful Links | Garfield Weston Foundation: garfieldweston.org They also have an ‘eligibility quiz’: garfieldweston.org/apply-to-us/eligibility-quiz/ |
The heritage fund has published the first three-year delivery plan for its new 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033. It includes details about their budgets and priorities and forthcoming changes to National Lottery Grants for Heritage.
For now though, please continue to apply for funding using our current guidance and outcomes. An open programme for heritage projects across the UK using revenue generated from The National Lottery to fund digitisation projects and heritage enterprises by not-for-profit organisations and private owners of heritage and partnerships. There are a number of different grants available.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Local, regional and national UK heritage projects |
| Opens | Always open (check for changes to terms during COVID-19) |
| Closes |
Deadlines for grants over £250,000:
|
| Grants Available | |
| Helpful Links | www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding |
The Marc Fitch Fund offers special project grants which are small and intended to be of last resort for projects that might otherwise fail and have exhausted alternative funding strategies. Funding is available for applications from local and national archaeological and historical societies to digitise and publish journal backlists online (with a number of conditions attached) which must be made available to all.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Heritage digitisation projects for pre-1945 collections |
| Opens | Always open via email submission of a brief outline |
| Closes | Applications determined in:
|
| Grants Available | Small grant (Amount unspecified) |
| Helpful Links | marcfitchfund.org.uk |
Museums Galleries Scotland provides support to the sector via a number of funds including the Small Grant and the Museum Development Fund.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Museums projects aimed at getting back on track and taking strategic steps towards becoming more resilient. |
| Opens | Various dates |
| Closes | November & January |
| Grants Available | Resilience fund £15,000 - £60,000 |
| Helpful Links | museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/funding |
Supporting UK charities and state schools only, this foundation operates two grant schemes open to heritage digitisation projects. The Main Grants Scheme supports charities whose work covers Arts and Learning, with priority given to sustainable projects offering a service to the general public. The Small Grants Scheme supports smaller charities in all fields providing their annual turnover does not exceed £150,000.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Digitisation projects for charitable institutions with an emphasis on sustainability, public benefit and accessibility (main grant scheme – learning) |
| Opens | Always open |
| Closes | No deadline |
| Grants Available |
|
| Helpful Links | foylefoundation.org.uk/how-to-apply |
The Rothschild Foundation’s overall aim is to ensure the conservation and preservation of Jewish heritage material. Their aims are specifically focused on: conservation and preservation; inventories and cataloguing; digital resource creation and digital humanities; professional training; and language grants. They also support digitisation to make the collections more widely accessible, “provided the application clearly explains the purpose for digitisation”.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Jewish heritage projects run by charitable organisations |
| Opens | Spring |
| Closes | September |
| Grants Available | Conservation and preservation grants between £30,000 - £60,000 per year for up to three years |
| Helpful Links | rothschildfoundation.eu/grants |
The Pilgrim Trust is working to preserve and conserve the UK's heritage through moderate funding made available through two grants open to UK charities for the preservation of such things as artefacts, books, and manuscripts. The Trust considers applications on a rolling basis and has historically provided funding for digitisation as part of a wider project. Priority is given to projects considered to be of national importance.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Two grants available with an emphasis on conserving historical buildings, monuments and collections |
| Opens | This two-stage application is always open |
| Closes | Applications determined in:
|
| Grants Available |
|
| Helpful Links | www.thepilgrimtrust.org.uk/preservation-and-conservation-grants/care-of-collections-and-objects www.thepilgrimtrust.org.uk/preservation-and-conservation-grants/archives-revealed/ |
The Wolfson Foundation has a long history of supporting the arts and humanities and recognises the importance of the cultural sector, providing grants to charities and organisations with charitable status. The Foundation offers specific funding streams for both the Performing Arts and Museums & Galleries under their ‘Funding for Places’ stream for which there are two rounds each year.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Funding for Places: Archives, Museums, Galleries and Performing Arts collections |
| Opens |
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| Closes |
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| Grants Available | £15,000 - £100,000 (match funding required for projects over £50,000) |
| Helpful Links | www.wolfson.org.uk/funding/funding-for-places |
The Sackler Trust has been supporting research and education charities across the UK since 2010. Over that period, the Trust has committed more than £60 million in support of charitable activities in the fields of medical science, healthcare, and access to education and the arts, as well as supporting community organisations, heritage sites and projects which promote social good.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Support charitable activities in the fields of science, education, arts, heritage, environment & social good |
| Opens | Always |
| Closes | Applications are reviewed twice a year in June and November. |
| Grants Available | Up to £250,000 |
| Helpful Links | https://www.sacklertrust.org/ |
The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation was formed in 1997 following the merger between Trust House Forte plc and Granada plc. Following the sale of shares in Granada, the new ‘Trusthouse’ (rather than Trust House) became a registered charity in 1997, with investments totalling circa £80 million. The return from these investments provides the annual grants budget of some £2.5 million which is awarded to charitable organisations and projects. Trusthouse’s mission is to help address disadvantage and deprivation in communities in the UK.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Projects must have a focus on Community Support & organisations' postcode fall into one of their Indices of Multiple Deprivation |
| Opens | Always |
| Closes | No deadline |
| Grants Available | Single-year grants between £2,000 and £10,000 for core costs, salaries, and running and project costs. |
| Helpful Links | https://www.trusthousecharitablefoundation.org.uk/our-grants/small-grants |
LORD BARNBY'S CHARITABLE FOUNDATION supports a wide range of charitable causes across the UK through its Discretionary Fund. Awards have previously been made to health & medical charities, hospices & hospitals, museums and uniformed youth groups such as Scouts and Sea Scouts.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | UK registered charities |
| Opens | Always |
| Closes | No deadline |
| Grants Available | Up to £12,000 |
| Helpful Links | https://www.pavo.org.uk/help-for-organisations/funding/funding-news/article/news/lord-barnbys-charitable-foundation-discretionary-grants.html |
The Historic Houses Foundation (HHF) is a charitable grant-giving foundation which was set up in 2005 as the Country Houses Foundation, changing its name in 2019 following the merger with the Heritage Conservation Trust. The objects of the Foundation are to advance the preservation, for the public benefit, of buildings of sufficient historic or architectural significance or importance to merit preservation together with their gardens and grounds and to protect and augment the amenities furnishings, and artwork of any such buildings, gardens and grounds.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | The conservation, maintenance and restoration of works of art and objects of outstanding artistic, scientific and historic interest |
| Opens | Always |
| Closes | No deadline |
| Grants Available | £1,000 - £250,000 |
| Helpful Links | https://www.historichousesfoundation.org.uk/ |
Happy Museum supports museum practices that place well-being within an environmental and future-facing frame, rethinking the role that museums can play in creating more resilient people, places and the planet. Through action research, academic research, peer networking and training it supports institutional and community wellbeing and resilience in the face of global challenges.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Museum practices that place well-being within an environmental and future-facing frame |
| Opens | Always |
| Closes | No deadline |
| Grants Available | (Amount unspecified) |
| Helpful Links | https://happymuseumproject.org/what-we-do/museum-projects/ |
The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) offers a number of funding streams that will support the creation of digital resources, with a variety of projects funded. Use their 'Funding Finder' tool to search for available grants.
Funding Details |
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| Types of Project | Funding for research supporting the creation of digital resources - would suggest emailing in the first instance to see what projects are currently covered |
| Opens | Always open |
| Closes | Various |
| Grants Available | Various |
| Helpful Links | www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/ |
Funding Scotland provides a free online search engine to research available funds and grants: https://funding.scot/search?keywords=&activities=heritage-and-building-preservation&type_of_funding=grant
If you discover any other funds or grants that you think we should know about, please do get in touch and help us to keep this resource as up-to-date and relevant as possible for the benefit of the wider heritage community. If you are applying, always check the dates and finer details because these are always subject to change. If you find anything to be incorrect or out of date, again, please let us know by emailing hello@townswebarchiving.com.
If you found this article useful, you might also like our Best Practice tips for Planning a Digitisation Project.
Best of luck with your next project!