At this time of significant challenge for the country in all walks of life, I wanted to make sure that you are aware of some work that we have been doing at the National Lottery Heritage Fund over the last few weeks to support our vital heritage organisations across the UK. Having already invested over £8bn of National Lottery funding into more than 44,000 projects over the last 25 years – of which more than £3bn has gone to over 13,000 projects in London and the South of England – we are aware that we have a significant role to play in supporting heritage organisations through this time.
We have already conducted a survey of over 1,250 organisations across the heritage sector, and a separate survey in partnership with Wildlife and Countryside Link for the land and nature sector, to gather early views on the impacts of Covid-19 on their organisations. I would like to thank everyone who made time to participate. You may already have seen the results from these surveys, but you can find a full analysis of our survey, and the parallel survey we commissioned with Wildlife and Countryside Link on our website.
We used this evidence-base, along with a considerable analysis of our own business and processes, to put together our initial response which was approved by The Fund’s Board last week. As well as simplifying processes and making some tough decisions on pausing new grant-making activity, we have launched a £50m Heritage Emergency Fund. The purpose of this fund is saving heritage put at additional risk by Covid-19 and it will focus on immediate pressures and essential operations while Covid-19 restrictions are in place. Applications will be open for the Fund from April 15th: everyone at the Fund is committed to doing as much as we can, as quickly as we can to help heritage at risk across the UK.
