Our four investment principles will guide all our grant decision making under our new 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033.

You must take all four principles into account in your application. The strength of focus, and emphasis on each principle, is for you to decide and demonstrate.

Consider: How does your project reflect what we want to do for heritage? How will it help us achieve our ambitions for heritage?

Saving heritage

Conserving and valuing heritage, for now and the future. 

What we mean

Our support will ensure heritage remains accessible, relevant, sustainable and valued.

What we will do

Heritage at risk: We will commit funding to protect, conserve and revitalise heritage of all kinds that is in poor condition or at risk of loss, decline, damage, neglect or of being forgotten – ensuring it is valued and better understood.

Invest in places: Heritage has a unique role in bringing people together where they live, work and visit. We will increase people’s connection with the heritage of their local places through targeted investment in our historic and natural environment.

Revitalise and maintain: We will invite proposals to work with us to develop the skills, capacity and innovation to sustain and manage heritage. We will identify opportunities for revitalising diverse types of heritage.

What we want to achieve

By 2033 we will have:

• Improved the condition, viability and public understanding of thousands of heritage sites, collections, habitats, species and intangible cultural heritage.
• Measurably reduced the amount of heritage identified as ‘at risk’, whether through loss, facing extinction, assessed as being in poor or unfavourable condition or at risk of being forgotten.
• Delivered long-term projects to transform local areas, towns, cities and landscapes by taking a targeted approach to improving the condition of heritage and the pride people take in their local environment.
• Ensured that the digital heritage resources we support are open, accessible and discoverable by future generations.

Protecting the environment

Supporting nature recovery and environmental sustainability. 

What we mean

We will support natural heritage and environmentally sustainable projects that help the UK meet its nature recovery targets and mitigate the impact of climate change on heritage.

What we will do

Landscape: We will increase our support for strategic and landscape-scale projects – both rural and urban – that help habitats and species thrive, reducing and mitigating the impacts of climate change, while helping people connect to our unique natural heritage.

Nature: We will invest through partnerships to help halt and reverse the loss and decline of habitats and species.

Environmental footprint: We will support heritage projects that reduce adverse environmental impacts and help heritage to adapt to our changing climate. If projects involve construction, we will encourage restoration, conservation and reuse, rather than new build.

Mitigation: We will collaborate to bring natural, built and cultural heritage stakeholders together to identify and mitigate climate risks to heritage and involve people in bringing about positive behaviour change.

What we want to achieve

By 2033 we will have:

• Put landscapes and habitats in both urban and rural places into recovery, so they support abundant natural heritage and healthy natural systems.
• Increased people’s understanding and connection with nature across towns, cities and the countryside.
• Reduced the negative environmental impact and carbon footprint of our funding portfolio.
• Improved the ability of natural and cultural heritage to plan for and adapt to a changing climate and helped projects take action for the environment.

Inclusion, access and participation

Supporting greater inclusion, diversity, access and participation in heritage. 

What we mean

We will support organisations to ensure everyone has opportunities to learn, develop new skills and explore heritage, regardless of background or personal circumstances.

What we will do

Involve a more diverse range of people in heritage, investing in volunteering, heritage careers, co-creating projects, leadership, governance and developing knowledge and skills.

Enable organisations to remove barriers to access and participation, particularly for people who are under-served by heritage.

Support all communities to explore and share their heritage, with a focus on making the stories of our four nations more inclusive of everyone’s heritage.

Accessible digital heritage resources: Support greater use of digital technology to make heritage more accessible and enjoyable, and promote better access to heritage information, enabling projects to increase impact and reach.

What we want to achieve

By 2033 we will have:

• Increased the diversity of heritage workforces, leadership and audiences.
• Addressed the barriers to access for people under-served by heritage, providing more equitable opportunities for active involvement and participation.
• Enriched people’s lives through our investment, enabling everyone’s heritage to be recognised.
• Supported people to creatively use digital technology in heritage to promote access and reach.

Organisational sustainability

Strengthening heritage to be adaptive and financially resilient, contributing to communities and economies.

What we mean

We will support organisations to develop the skills and capacity to ensure a sound long-term future and encourage new heritage investment that benefits communities and economies.

What we will do

Support financial sustainability: We will continue to offer funding to build resilience, providing organisations with capacity and expertise to develop their long-term organisational and financial plans.

Support heritage skills development: We will collaborate with partners to identify opportunities to build capacity, skills and expertise in heritage, to contribute to thriving communities and economies.

Provide flexible funding: We will offer flexible financial support in the early planning stages of projects for preparatory analysis and activities. We will also make available follow-on funding for time-limited periods on completion of significant capital projects to help embed operational stability.

New finance and investment: We will champion the use of more diverse income sources such as green finance and commercial approaches and help build the capacity and skills needed to deliver this.

What we want to achieve

By 2033 we will have:

• Supported organisations to increase their financial and organisational sustainability by developing their commercial and digital skills and strengthening governance and leadership.
• Supported the development of skills and capacity in the heritage sector.
• Used our flexible funding model to embed resilience in the projects we fund.
• Enabled the heritage sector to strengthen its contribution to economies and local communities.