Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)

We fund projects of all sizes that connect people to the UK’s heritage with grants from £10,000 up to £10million.

We don’t define heritage. We ask you to tell us what you think is important and should be preserved.

From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more –heritage can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations.

Your heritage project could include:

• Nature – works to improve habitats or conserve species, as well as helping people to connect to nature in their daily lives.
• Designed landscapes – improving and conserving historic landscapes such as public parks, historic gardens and botanical gardens.
• Large-scale rural projects that help improve landscapes for people and nature by, for example, restoring habitats and celebrating the cultural traditions of the land.
• Oral history recordings of people’s stories, memories and songs, as a way of communicating and revealing the past.
• Cultural traditions exploring the history of different cultures through storytelling, or things that you do as part of your community. This could be anything from dance and theatre to food or clothing. It could also include the heritage of languages and dialects.
• Community archaeology involves the active participation of volunteers in archaeological activities, everything from investigating, photographing, surveying, excavation and finds processing. Sometimes called public archaeology
• Historic buildings, monuments and the historic environment – from houses and mills to caves and gardens. Areas that are connected to history and heritage.
• Museums, libraries and archives – making the collections that museums, libraries and archives hold more accessible through new displays, improving public buildings and galleries, or engaging people with interpreting new and existing collections.
• Acquiring new objects – help towards the cost of acquiring one-off objects or collections as part of a collections development policy.
• Commemorations and celebrations – telling the stories and histories of people, communities, places or events related to specific times and dates.
• Industrial, maritime and transport – places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history.