A new report has revealed that HLF catalyst grants boosted fundraising skills across UK heritage organisations. UK heritage will be more resilient and less reliant on public funding after almost 20,000 people across 4,100 organisations received specialist fundraising training, mentoring, and business support, according to a new report published today by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
Catalyst: Umbrella offered grants of between £100,000 and £500,000 for ‘umbrella’ heritage bodies to work with other organisations to increase fundraising capacity and diversify income.
A key example was the £750,000 Catalyst: Umbrella grant which enabled the Heritage Alliance, in partnership with the Institute of Fundraising, to deliver ‘Giving to Heritage’. This fundraising training programme helped more than 1,700 staff, volunteers, committee members and trustees of more than 800 heritage organisations and groups access fundraising training and capacity building opportunities. This included workshops, executive coaching, one-to-one support and webinars. As a result, £3.15m has been raised already and this is expected to rise as the skills are embedded.
We continue to look for bodies able to fund an extension to the scheme. Please get in contact if you have any suggestions about funding the programme.