Museum and Heritage Collections Strand

Background: why the Museum & Heritage Collections strand?

The Foundation has a longstanding interest in preserving and providing public access to collections of significance.
The Foundation continues to have a broader interest in strengthening the heritage sector through our Main Fund, which will continue to build on our previous work that has supported museums and other heritage organisations with grants towards staffing, exhibitions and skills development.

The Museum & Heritage Collections strand will specifically build on our previous collections work, which has supported museums and other heritage organisations with grants towards curatorial work, conservation and collections management.

The strand complements previous schemes such as the Regional Museums Initiative which aimed to improve access to and understanding of collections by encouraging the research and development of ambitious exhibition programmes. It also complements on-going support to projects such as the Museums Association’s Effective Collections programme, funded by the Foundation, which aims to make more effective use of the nation’s collections by encouraging long loans and a more active approach to disposals.

Purpose: what is the Museum & Heritage Collections strand aiming to achieve?

We aim to support collections work including research, documentation and conservation that is outside the scope of an organisation’s core resources.

Available funding

• The budget is £3million over three years from 2008, subject to annual review. 
• The strand will be able to make grants of up to £100,000.

What are we looking to fund under the Museum & Heritage Collections strand?

Priority will be given to proposals that have one or more of the following characteristics:

• We are interested in supporting collections work that is difficult to fund from core or other sources, or is in need of partnership funding
• We are interested in supporting work at an early stage of development, where wider programmes such as education and exhibitions cannot yet be fully developed
• We are interested in supporting proposals where it may be difficult to guarantee tangible outcomes
• We are also interested in proposals that have the potential to share knowledge with other organisations through partnership working or dissemination
• Proposals must be for time-limited projects of up to three years.

What is excluded from support?

• We will not support ongoing core costs.  Grants under this strand will be for project costs only.
• Archives, unless they form part of a museum’s collection.
• We are unlikely to support individual places of worship, except for work on collections of national significance.
• We are unlikely to support collections work which is taking place principally as a result of a major capital redevelopment.

Work listed under the Main Fund exclusions will not be funded under this strand.

Application process

Applicants should complete a First Stage Application, clearly marked "Application to the Museum and Heritage Collections Strand" at the top of each page, comprising:

a) a form. Download an electronic version of the form (Word 48k).

b) a short statement summarising what you would like to do and why on no more than two sides of A4, using a font no smaller than 12-point. Please use the following headings:

• A brief description of your organisation and its track record
• What you would like us to fund
• Why you want to do this work
• How the project meets the criteria of the Museum & Heritage Collections strand
• How much the project would cost and how much you are asking Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for
• Additional information that could advance your application.

c) a copy of your organisation's most recent accounts (or a budget for the current year if your organisation is new, or the appropriate departmental budget if you are a local authority).

d) your organisation's constitution (if you are not a registered charity, with the exception of local authorities).

We will contact you within one month to let you know whether you are invited to proceed to the second stage of the application process. If you are successful, we will let you know what additional information we need and by when.

May 2008

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