Business Support and Enterprise Development

Business Support and Enterprise Development

People working on an office desk with bright sticky notes
Investing in resilience
Supporting organisations working with heritage to build their capacity and resilience.

As the heritage sector faces some of its greatest challenges, our support is more important now than ever. 

We have already invested £8million in business support and enterprise development training programmes across the UK, working with organisations and experts in the sector to deliver them.

Organisational sustainability is one of the four investment principles that guide all our grant decision making under Heritage 2033.

This means 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. 

We want to help the heritage sector become more robust, enterprising and forward looking.

Programmes we've funded

Business support

Working with external specialists and professionals, we developed a range of business support programmes tailored to all nations in the UK.

Rebuilding Heritage was delivered by the Heritage Alliance and offered free one-to-one and small group support for organisations and individuals working with heritage across the UK.

The programme helped participants build confidence, overcome immediate challenges and plan for a sustainable future. The main areas of focus included business planning, fundraising, and marketing and communications.

For more information visit the Rebuilding Heritage website.

Heritage Compass is designed to help small and medium-sized heritage organisations in England to grow resilience and invigorate the sector. It is delivered by Cause4 in partnership with the Arts Marketing Association and Creative United. 

In spring 2021, Heritage Compass was awarded additional funding by the Heritage Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to expand from 150 to 300 participating organisations.

Kingfisher at the Montrose Basin Visitor Centre, Scotland

Surviving to Thriving: Supporting Sustainable Scottish Heritage Businesses was a resilience and leadership training programme. It worked with 40 heritage organisations in Scotland to help them develop sustainable business models.

The tailored training covered leadership, governance, business planning and community engagement.

This programme was run by industry experts from Museums Galleries Scotland, Built Environment Forum Scotland and Greenspace Scotland.

For more information visit the Surviving to Thriving website

The Re:Model programme was run by Thrive and Arts & Business NI.

A wide range of heritage organisations in Northern Ireland were involved in the programme. Organisations worked to create their own personalised change plan to will act as a roadmap towards resilience and sustainability.

For more information visit the Thrive website.

Catalyst Cymru: Broadening Horizons was a bilingual, pan-Wales project. It aimed to help micro, small and medium-sized heritage organisations become more resilient and sustainable by broadening their income streams, audiences, teams and boards.

Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) ran the project in partnership with Cwmpas (formerly Wales Cooperative Centre). It was also supported by Disability Wales, Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales (EYST) and Pride Cymru.

For more information visit the Catalyst Cymru website.

Enterprise development

We developed two UK-wide programmes aimed at supporting organisations working with heritage to develop enterprise skills.

Steps to Sustainability supported organisations from across the UK to strengthen their strategic leadership and income-generating skills. The programme was delivered by the Social Enterprise Academy, supported by consortium partners.

Organisations taking part learned to be ambitious and forward-thinking, and how to deliver exciting new projects. 

For more information visit the Steps to Sustainability website.

The Heritage Trade Up programme was run by the School for Social Entrepreneurs with the Heritage Trust Network and the Architectural Heritage Fund.

The programme supported leaders of heritage organisations to develop and strengthen their entrepreneurialism. It aimed to equip organisations with the skills and networks needed to be more innovative, increase traded income and financial resilience, and to create positive change within their organisations and communities.

SSE supported organisations to bring heritage to a wider audience, so the sector is better equipped to build a more connected and inclusive society.

For more information visit the Heritage Trade Up website.

Discover more resources, useful information and updates below:

A line of people smiling
The collecting panel for Fashioning Africa

Projects

Fashioning Africa

Meaningful relationships were built with local communities and diverse experts in this Collecting Cultures project, which saw new ways of working trialled and access widened.

Manchester's Victoria Baths after restoration works
Manchester's Victoria Baths after restoration works

Projects

Bringing Manchester's Victoria Baths back to life

This project has renovated and refurbished Manchester’s Victoria Baths, regarded as Britain’s finest historic municipal swimming pool.

The centre's new frontage, part of the extension
The centre's new frontage, part of the extension

Projects

Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre Extension

The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre on the Jurassic Coast has been extended, allowing more people to interact with the heritage of this World Heritage Site.

One of the museum's new galleries
One of the museum's new galleries

Projects

Governor's Residence Access

The Governor’s Residence, part of the Down County Museum, has been made accessible for all visitors, thanks to the National Lottery.

A group of people stand in front of the building during its restoration
Gartnavel Royal Hospital Chapel

Projects

Gartnavel Royal Hospital Chapel

Gartnavel Chapel in Glasgow was repaired and restored to create a cancer support centre where patients and their families can receive free support and care.

Hoverfly identified as part of the Invertebrate Challenge project
Hoverfly identified as part of the Invertebrate Challenge project.

Projects

Invertebrate Challenge

Do you know your annelids from your arachnids? This training project aimed to increase the number of people skilled in recording invertebrates across Shropshire.

Two people in costume stand on a bridge in Painshill Park
Participants in period dress welcoming people to Painshill Park, Cobham

Projects

Grotto Restoration - Education Project

Painshill Park Trust returned a breathtaking crystal cave to its 18th-century glory.

Young participants by the River Lambourn

Projects

RENEWAL: reviving River Lambourn

West Berkshire Council and Newbury Community Resource Centre worked with local people to revive the fortunes of a neglected river.

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