The Heritage Alliance has secured a significant grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to drive its aim of making the Heritage Sector stronger and more resilient.
The Heritage Alliance writes:
Over the next 18 months, the ‘Creating Connections‘ project will support greater collaboration within the sector, improve knowledge sharing, and future proof the charity. Running from October 2025 to early 2027, the project will address particular challenges facing heritage organisations across England through three interconnected strands of work designed to benefit the Alliance’s membership base, and the broader heritage community:
- Fostering Connections – in partnership with the University of Oxford, this will be an innovative academic matchmaking pilot organised between heritage organisations and university teams, capturing case studies, and fostering new relationships. A series of regional events, developed in collaboration with Heritage Open Days, will provide training and networking opportunities for organisations outside of London, particularly targeting areas in the North-West and North-East of England. More specialist-interest groups and role-specific peer networks will be created, building on the success of the Alliance’s CEO peer-to-peer group. These groups and networks will support connection and learning, regional advocacy and be used for gathering knowledge and case studies across the sector to help inspire others.
- Improved Knowledge Sharing – the Alliance’s popular newsletter, Heritage Update, will be redesigned to help improve accessibility and navigation. The website will be enhanced so that resources from partners and other sector peers are better signposted and more accessible.
- Futureproofing the Charity – the project will invest in and update Heritage Alliance’s CRM to look after members and stakeholders more effectively. Dedicated fundraising capacity will help to develop sustainable funding streams for the Heritage Funding Directory and other future sector-support programmes.
The project responds directly to sector research undertaken by the Alliance showing that 66% of heritage organisations face funding challenges. The Heritage Alliance member survey informed the project design, with 43% of members specifically requesting better academic partnerships and matchmaking, and 32% wanting more role-specific networks. The project will help create fundraising specific networks as well as drive regional specific collaboration to improve outcomes for heritage. The project will also create several new part-time roles with the Alliance, and engage external consultants to help deliver the workstreams.
Carole Souter, Heritage Alliance Chair, said: ‘We are grateful to have been awarded this resilience-focused grant from the National Lottery. Previous investment helped transform our activities and this new support will enable us to deliver tangible support to our members, help build a more resilient heritage sector and future-proof the Alliance.’
Stuart McLeod, Director of London and South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: ‘We’re proud to support The Heritage Alliance with this important project. ‘Creating Connections’ will strengthen collaboration, knowledge sharing and long-term sustainability across the heritage sector. By investing in partnerships like this, it helps to ensure that heritage organisations, both large and small, are able to plan for a bright future.’
Dr Katrin Wilhelm, Heritage Innovations Laboratory Oxford, said : ‘We are thrilled to announce this partnership between HILO and the Heritage Alliance, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Together, we will build new collaborative networks connecting academic researchers with heritage sector professionals. This partnership will pioneer innovative partnership models while strengthening the use of evidence-based research across the heritage sector.’
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