The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) accepts applications for grants from £10,000 to £10m. The funding can be used for wide a range of heritage initiatives including: historic buildings and monuments; museums, libraries and archives; cultural traditions; industrial heritage; nature, gardens and historic landscapes; community archaeology; and commemorations and celebrations.
Projects must align with the NLHF 10-year strategy – Heritage 2033 – which is based on four core principles:
- saving heritage
- protecting the environment
- inclusion, access and participation
- organisational sustainability
There are two funding streams for projects in England:
- National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000
- National Lottery Heritage Grants £250,000 to £10m
Applications can be made by not-for-profit organisations and partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations. Private owners of heritage assets can also apply for grants up to £250,000 if they can demonstrate that the public benefit outweighs any private gain.
The NLHF also takes a proactive approach to tackling long-standing heritage issues through its Strategic Initiatives which support projects and address heritage gaps where proposals are not coming through in the open programmes.
The strategic initiatives are:
Landscape Connections
For long-term landscape-scale nature recovery in National Parks and National Landscapes, providing better connections for people and nature.
Places of Worship
For strategic regional or national projects that develop capacity to repair, manage and sustain historic religious buildings (ie. not for individual churches)
Heritage Places (open to heritage projects in Torbay)
Funding for transformative heritage projects in specific places. 15 places have been announced so far, including Torbay.
Nature Towns & Cities (closed)
For urban nature recovery initiatives. The funding has now been allocated to 40 towns and cities across the UK.
Focus of fund/fund aims:
Funding to protect heritage of all types and to help people to connect with heritage
Application deadline:
For grants of £10,000 to £250,000: apply at any time. For grants of £250,000 to £10m: the next deadlines are 26 February 2026, 28 May 2026, 6 August 2026 and 12 November 2026