Funding for Oral History
Introduction
Oral history projects vary greatly in scale, intention, focus, duration and complexity, and consequently have different funding requirements. Oral history is now used in a bewildering array of sectors and settings, from community history to theatre, from art practice to museum interpretation, from corporate history to health research; by schools and older people’s organisations; in volunteer projects and higher education. Perhaps because of its broad applicability and multi-disciplinary nature there are few funders who specifically focus on oral history or even mention it. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the key exception, and many projects will look to the Heritage Fund in the first instance for funding. But in fact there are many other grant-making bodies which support oral history, especially where applicants tailor their projects to the funder’s interests and priorities (for example projects involving younger people or marginalised groups or wellbeing).
In this guidance we have highlighted the key funding bodies for oral history (broadly defined). We provide current websites and other details about their funding priorities, which change over time. Some funders who previously supported culture, heritage and oral history no longer do so and have not been included here. A few have simply closed their funds. Several no longer accept unsolicited applications. In this case and, in fact for most funding bodies, it is highly recommended that you speak to the funder (or one of its trustees) before submitting an application, so you can ensure it has the best chance of meeting the funder’s requirements and expectations. It is also worth doing some background research about the grant-giver: many are charities so checking the Charity Commission’s website is a good place to start as this will usually list current trustees and provide an overview of the charity’s finances and recent levels of giving.
Note that we have not included here the major academic-based funders such as the Arts and Humanities Research Counciland the Economic and Social Research Council but we do point to a few other academic funders who have previously supported individual oral history-based research. This guidance also does not cover: individual personal giving such as patron schemes and one-off donations (where the Gift Aid scheme can secure additional funds over and above a donation); corporate giving or sponsorship (where companies can get tax relief on charitable donations); or bequests (where charitable donations are exempt from Inheritance Tax). For more established projects or organisations all these fundraising strategies are worth exploring: corporate oral history projects, for example, have increased in number in recent years.
The OHS website offers several advice pages which will be helpful in planning an oral history project from scratch: from ‘getting started’ and ‘planning and costing community projects’ to ‘archiving’. There is also focussed guidance on ‘Budgeting your oral history project’ at https://ohs.org.uk/budgeting/ and advice on budgeting schools and young people oral history projects: https://ohs.org.uk/costs-and-funding-for-schools/. There are also training courses for those new to oral history.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund offers ‘Oral history good practice guidance’ at https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/good-practice-guidance/oral-history
General Starter Advice
For those new to fundraising and writing funding applications here are a few useful links:
nfp Synergy has a comprehensive beginner’s guide to fundraising for small organisations.
NCVO has a section with practical tips and guides on fundraising.
360Giving has written a blog with links to resources for fundraisers to search for funders for free.
The Edge Fund provides a helpful list of fundraising resources including links to toolkits, guides, training and funder databases.
Fundraising for first timers is a beginner’s guide produced by Arts Council Wales aimed at organisations or charities that are starting out on their fundraising journey.
Culture and Business Scotland runs a range of training courses to support fundraising and sponsorship activities for people working in arts and heritage organisations, including corporate sponsorship and individual giving.
Charities Aid Foundation has ‘Fundraising Fundamentals’, a free toolkit for small to medium-sized charities.
Community Foundations is the national membership and support organisation for individual community foundations. Collectively, its members are the largest community-focused grant-making network in the UK, making over £65m grants a year. You can search their network to find one local to your organisation.
Reach Volunteering provides a free service for charities, enabling the recruitment of skilled volunteers and trustees.
For how to set up a charity go to GOV.UK advice and information and an online checklist tool called charitysetup by the Small Charities Coalition to steer you through the logistics of setting up a charity in simple steps.
Funding Directories
There is a host of funding guides and directories available to help you identify grant-making bodies to approach which best match the aims of your project. Some of these guides are not free or require a subscription, so we start with the free ones.
Heritage Funding Directory: Managed by The Heritage Alliance and the Architectural Heritage Fund, this is a free guide to financial support for anyone undertaking UK-related heritage projects. A useful starting point for navigating funding sources in the sector.
GrantNav: A free-to-use open data platform that enables you to access and explore funder information from UK grant-making organisations. You can search by multiple criteria including by funder, recipient, location and keywords for thousands of grants. Searching for “oral history” in February 2025 the site listed over 844 grants from thirty-three funders since 1998 (totalling over £30m). A great resource for researching previously funded projects in your geographical or topic area.
My Funding Central: A database of grant funding and social investment, available to organisations with an annual income below £1m. Subscription is free for organisations with an annual income of under £30k.
Directory of Social Change: Purchase publications on UK grant-making such as the Directory of Grant-Making Trusts. They also provide training on fundraising.
Funds Online: A funding database featuring over 8,000 funders from the Directory of Social Change. Flexible subscriptions available.
Charity Excellence Framework: Registering to access the database takes two minutes and also allows use of the ‘health check’ assessment and access to the huge resource base, including a funding finder.
Major National Funder of Oral History
The national lottery has been a major source of funding for oral history since the 1990s. It supports several lottery providers across various sectors offering thirty-six different grants. An overarching web resource at https://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/funding can help you decide which one is the best fit for your project. For many oral history projects the National Lottery Heritage Fund or the National Lottery Community Fund will be the most appropriate. Note that the People’s Postcode Lottery also has a funding programme, the People’s Postcode Trust.
National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF)
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
As the largest funder of the UK’s heritage and a major supporter of oral history projects in the UK, Heritage Fund investment has resulted in an exciting range of community oral history over many years. The news section in the Oral History Journal provides an excellent overview of Heritage Fund-supported projects over recent decades and searchable back issues are available free online to OHS members via JSTOR.
What are the Heritage Fund’s guiding funding principles?
The Heritage Fund’s ten-year strategy, ‘Heritage 2033’, has four investment principles which guide their decision-making for National Lottery Heritage Grants, their funding programme for all types of heritage projects in the UK:
- Saving heritage: conserving and valuing heritage, for now and the future.
- Protecting the environment: supporting nature recovery and environmental sustainability.
- Inclusion, access and participation: supporting greater inclusion, diversity, access and participation in heritage.
- Organisational sustainability: strengthening heritage to be adaptive and financially resilient, contributing to communities and economies.
You are advised to take all four principles into account in your grant application: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/investment-principles
What kind of projects will they fund?
Heritage is not defined and is applicant-led (https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/what-we-fund). Projects specifically mentioned include ‘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…[including] the heritage of languages and dialects’, and ‘Commemorations and celebrations – telling the stories and histories of people, communities, places or events related to specific times and dates’.
For examples of the kind of oral history and memory-led projects which the Heritage Fund has supported go to the case studies at https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/projects. Some include detailed project profiles, budgets and top tips. You’ll see that some projects include oral history amongst an array of different heritage activities and outputs, beyond simply collecting and presenting interviews, so it’s good to think broadly about your project.
Who can apply?
Not-for-profit organisations (so not individuals) including charities, community groups, parish councils, community interest companies (CICs), faith-based organisations, local authorities and other public sector organisations.
What can the funding pay for?
All oral history activities and outputs, including new staff posts, volunteer expenses and training. It can also pay for the means to share your oral histories with a wider audience and to make them available to people in the future. Voluntary organisations can use full cost recovery to retrieve direct project costs but also a proportionate share of the organisation’s fixed running costs. You can apply for grants within two ranges: between £10k and £250k, and between £250k and £10m for up to five years. There are no application deadlines and for the smaller grants decisions are usually made within eight weeks. It is strongly recommended that you read the Heritage Fund’s ‘Oral History Good Practice Guidance’ at https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/good-practice-guidance/oral-history before proceeding further.
How to apply?
For funding applications under £250k the Heritage Fund offers pre-application advice through an optional project enquiry (https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/national-lottery-heritage-grants-10k-250k/project-enquiry-0) and you are advised to do this and get feedback before submitting a full application. The application itself will take you some time to complete and you need to create an account to apply.
A project enquiry will also encourage you to think through several key aspects of your project, especially:
- Who will lead and run the project?
- What is the need for the project and what opportunities will it generate?
- Where is the heritage?
- What will you do and how? You will need a clear project delivery plan and an assessment of any risks involved.
- Who will you involve (partners, volunteers, supporters, advisors, an archive)? Will any be contributing in-cash or in-kind to the project? (This kind of involvement and support is encouraged and you will need to supply evidence).
- How much will the project cost over what period of time? You need a clear budget.
- How does it address the Heritage Fund’s investment principles?
- How will you preserve and share your project outputs, and with whom? All the project outputs need to be available for up to ten years after the end of the project. And bear in mind that the Heritage Fund normally requires projects to use a default open creative commons licence to share content: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/good-practice-guidance/digital. However, there is a recognised exception to open licensing for oral histories. Projects can raise any issues and request an exception during the application process. See https://ohs.org.uk/legal-and-ethical-advice/legal-and-ethical-faqs/ for further information. For most projects you should also seek an agreement with a recognised archive or library to preserve your oral history interviews for future researchers.
- How will you evaluate the impact and success of your project, both in the short and long-term?
For project funding over £250k you will first need to submit an expression of interest, after which you will be invited to apply over two stages: a development phase of up to two years, and a delivery phase of up to five years. Otherwise, all the other points mentioned above still apply, though decisions take up to twelve weeks.
Note that NLHF also has planned interventions and strategic initiatives from time to time which are worth exploring (https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding/strategic-initiatives). These include specific ‘heritage places’ where the Heritage Fund will invest in collaborative projects that are part of a wider ambition to improve or transform the area.
The National Lottery Community Fund
Website: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Voluntary, statutory and community organisations.
Grants: Up to £20k for lighter-touch applications for projects up to one year, or over £20k for projects running from one to five years.
Details: Projects which support people and communities: bring people together, improve places, and help people reach their potential including:
- ‘National Lottery Awards for All England/Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland’ offer grants of £300 to £20,000.
- ‘Reaching communities England’ for grants over £20k for up to five years.
- ‘People and Places (Wales)’ medium grants of £20k to £100k, and large grants £100k to £500k over up to five years.
- ‘The UK Fund’ bringing diverse communities together: £500k to £5m over two to ten years.
National Funders
Arts Council England
Website: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Individual creative practitioners, community, cultural and arts organisations, libraries and museums based in the UK.
Grants: £1k-£100k for projects up to three years. Decisions within 12 weeks, less for applications under £30k. There is a 10% match funding contribution expectation (cash or in-kind) for the project grants.
Details: ‘National Lottery Project Grants is our open access programme for arts, libraries and museums projects. The fund supports thousands of individual practitioners, community and cultural organisations.’ Can apply at any time but you need to create an eligibility profile for approval prior to application: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ProjectGrants/national-lottery-project-grants-how-apply. They offer useful information sheets in a ‘guidance library’. Much of the advice about applying to NLHF also applies here.
‘Museum Development’ programme ‘provides museums with training, resources and support to make sure that museums are the best they can be for their local communities’ and is organised by ACE region. Some MD regions have ‘small open grants’ for community engagement, digitisation, collections development etc into which oral history collecting or dissemination could fit. And some offer regional funding advice for museums (for example MD North). A further strategic time-limited ACE funding strand for museums is ‘Unlocking Collections’.
Another ACE funding strand, ‘Developing your Creative Practice’, supports ‘individuals who are cultural and creative practitioners and want to take time to focus on their creative development’. Applications up to £12k in the ‘supported disciplines’ of music, theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, libraries, combined arts and museums practice. It is highly competitive.
Note: The other home countries have parallel arts councils with different funding programmes:
- Creative Scotland – https://www.creativescotland.com/funding – for project grants of £1k-£100k over 18 months with a focus on creative practice.
- Arts Council of Wales – https://arts.wales/ – has an arts, health and wellbeing programme supporting projects with grants of £500-£50k (40% match funding is required).
- Arts Council of Northern Ireland – https://artscouncil-ni.org/ – individual arts practitioner funding only was available at time of writing (March 2025).
Association for Independent Museums (AIM)
Website: https://aim-museums.co.uk/grants/
Eligible applicants: Small or medium museums with fewer than 50,000 visitors per year which are AIM members and registered charities or public bodies.
Grants: Training grants up to £350. Project grants up to £20k.
Details: ‘AIM training grants’ are aimed at upskilling museum workforce. ‘Museum Fundamentals’ grants allow small and medium-sized museums ‘to create projects based on their collection needs, which improve knowledge, care and access to our nation’s heritage…to tell stories and connect with visitors’. There is a two-stage application process. Mentoring scheme available for successful applicants. Funding in partnership with the Pilgrim Trust and the Julia Rausing Trust.
British Academy
Website: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/
Eligible applicants: Postdoctoral scholars, especially early-career researchers, based in the UK. Includes ‘independent scholars and those in museums and galleries whose activities also contribute to the scholarly and cultural resources of the UK’.
Grants: Fellowships and small-scale grants (for example BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants).
Details: ‘Awards to enable the most talented [postdoctoral] academics in the humanities and social sciences to pursue their research [about] such essential issues as the education of our children and our workforce, trends in our population, the management of our economy, our relationships with other peoples and nations, and the implications of our new technologies, the disciplines we support help to shape Britain and the world’. Support is for ideas and individuals rather than large-scale institutional projects.
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Website: https://gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch/
Eligible applicants: UK registered charities.
Grants: Vary.
Details: ‘We do not accept unsolicited applications; however, we welcome initial inquiries if an organisation’s work aligns with our goals. Organisations may reach out with an introductory email describing their work and its alignment with our strategy. We ask that organisations refrain from sending full proposals unless invited, and we strive to respond to all inquiries in a reasonable timeframe. We proactively identify potential partners through research, consultation, and network events. When a project aligns with our priorities, we work together to co-develop the proposal, set outcomes, and define measures of success. Occasionally, we issue open calls for applications, which are published on the Foundation’s website and shared with relevant audiences. We also value collaboration with other trusts, foundations, and stakeholders.’Priorities include ‘Access to culture: tackling inequalities in cultural participation’ and ‘Climate and ocean’.
Charles Hayward Foundation
Website: http://www.charleshaywardfoundation.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: UK registered charities with an income less than £350,000.
Grants: Small grant programme up to £7,000.
Details: Programmes aiming to alleviate isolation and depression in older people, including informal day care or social, physical and recreational activities; which give practical help, assistance and support for older people living in their own homes; addressing the emotional and practical needs of older carers; designed to meet the specific needs of people with dementia.
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Website: https://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Registered UK charitable organisations with a turnover exceeding £100k pa.
Grants: £30,000 minimum, over 3-5 years.
Details: Priorities change according to a five-year strategic plan, currently (2025) they include:
- ‘A fairer future’: tackling injustice and inequity in organisations by creating a cultural workforce more reflective of UK society and encouraging youth-led creativity, racial justice, gender justice and migrant justice:
- Projects where ‘public understanding and discussion of migration issues is better informed, particularly by those with lived experience of the migration system…to build a better migration system… [and support and amplify] the voices of migrants, enabling more stories of migration to be told and heard’
- Projects which ‘bring to light and challenge gender injustice in systems – particularly for women experiencing multiple challenges and discrimination’
- ‘Creative, confident communities’
- Projects which ‘create and share positive and hopeful narratives about what their community is and what they want it to be’, ‘foster and build leadership skills, knowledge, and capacity within communities’ and ‘demonstrates the impact of community-led creativity and culture [in] making change in neighbourhoods’.
Garfield Weston Foundation
Website: https://garfieldweston.org/
Eligible applicants: UK charities that have been going for more than a year.
Grants: £1,000 to several million over up to three years. £100k+ are considered major grants. £100m awarded each year.
Details: Generalist funder with a history of funding arts, community, museum and heritage projects: ‘We fund small local organisations and large national institutions. Our grants can be for your organisation’s running [core] costs, for a specific activity or for capital projects. We are flexible and fund what charities need the most.’ For core costs a grant is unlikely to exceed 10% of total annual budget. A relatively straightforward application process.
Historic England
Website: https://historicengland.org.uk/campaigns/help-write-history/everyday-heritage-grants/
Eligible applicants: ‘All organisations and individuals can apply, including community interest groups, charities, and local authorities. We are especially interested in applications from groups and individuals that are not heritage organisations but can deliver heritage projects. While we are willing to fund proposals with links to established heritage institutions, we are especially interested in funding community-led projects’.
Grants: Projects with costs of up to £25,000 but ‘we are keen to fund a number of smaller projects up to £10,000’.
Details: Since 2022 the ‘Everyday Heritage Grants’ have supported ‘projects that celebrate working-class histories and the historic places that make up everyday life… The grants are for creative projects that focus on heritage connecting people to historic places, specifically those people and places that are overlooked or underrepresented.’ In February 2025 Historic England reported that ‘We don’t currently have any plans for another round of Everyday Heritage Grants’.
Idlewild Trust
Website: https://www.idlewildtrust.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: UK registered charities.
Grants: Up to £7,000. Around 40 grants awarded per year.
Details: Two grant schemes supporting training opportunities for early-stage arts professionals; and conservation of cultural heritage especially projects engaged in knowledge-sharing and/or public engagement.
John Ellerman Foundation
Website: https://ellerman.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Priority for UK-registered charities with an income between £100,000 and £10m where grants can have a national impact.
Grants: ‘On our main grants programme, we generally make grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 per year, for up to three years. [In 2023] our grants in the Arts, Environment, and Social Action categories ranged from £30,000 to £150,000 and the average grant size was around £106,000. Can include core funding. Grants strategy due for review in 2025.
Details: ‘We aim to advance the wellbeing of people, society and the natural world by focusing on the arts, environment and social action. We believe these areas can make an important contribution to wellbeing’. Priorities include a grants scheme for curators in museums and galleries to attract a wider public (https://ellerman.org.uk/apply-for-funding/museums-); and grants to championing change through social action: ‘We are interested in organisations with a track record that tackle divisions and inequity, and who bring together individuals, community organisations and others, including national bodies, to influence government and the agencies that shape our lives.’
Leverhulme Trust
Website: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/
Eligible applicants: The research project grants scheme is aimed at ‘researchers based at universities, institutions of higher education or registered charities with university-equivalent research capacity, to undertake an innovative and original research project’.
Grants: Vary. Up to £500k over five years for research project grants.
Details: Fourteen schemes covering academic research fellowships, and (perhaps best for oral history) research project grants.
The National Archives
Website: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-revealed/
Eligible applicants: Organisations holding archive collections of significant national importance.
Grants: Small scoping grants followed by cataloguing grants (up to £50k over two years), and consortium grants.
Details: ‘Archives Revealed’ is a partnership funding programme between The National Archives, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, ‘dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archival collections’, and ensuring that ‘significant archive collections’, representing the lives and perspective of all people across the UK, are made accessible to the public for research and enjoyment. Grants are typically for a trained archivist and related public engagement activities (20% of the total awarded).
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Website: https://www.phf.org.uk/funding
Eligible applicants: Non-profit organisations of any size in the UK especially those led by migrants with an annual turnover under £500k.
Grants: Vary. For the Migration Fund: up to £60k per year for 3-5 years.
Details: Run several funds in the arts, and for young people and social justice, all of which are worth looking at. But the Migration Fund is particularly appropriate for oral history work led by migrant community groups.
The Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts
Website: https://www.sfct.org.uk/the-trusts/
Eligible applicants: UK registered charities
Grants: Vary from trust to trust.
Details: There are nineteen trusts and funds and most do not have an open application process, preferring to proactively seek out partners to work with. These include the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (https://www.sfct.org.uk/gatsby-charitable-foundation/) and the Linbury Trust (https://www.sfct.org.uk/the-linbury-trust/) which have both previously supported oral history projects. The Monument Trust has been closed. Those with open application processes worth considering include:
- The Headley Trust (https://www.sfct.org.uk/the-headley-trust/) which funds: ‘Regional museums and galleries (including Local Authority museums); curators; acquisitions; display, study, acquisition of British ceramics; industrial, maritime, built heritage conservation; archaeology; arts education, digitisation and outreach’ and ‘Support for older people to live independently or improve their quality of life in residential care; projects that help disadvantaged families and young people, especially with access to basic needs, parenting, young people with experience of the care system and strengthening educational engagement.’
PF Charitable Trust
Website: None. Contact [email protected]Eligible applicants: UK registered charities
Grants: Small grants up to £10k and large grants up to £50k, UK-wide with a special interest in Scotland (https://www.foundationscotland.org.uk/apply-for-funding/funding-available/pf-charitable-trust).
Details: Broad areas of interest including arts, culture and heritage, and it has supported oral history previously. Awarded grants totalling over £2m in 2023-24.
Pilgrim Trust
Website: https://www.thepilgrimtrust.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: UK registered charities, organisations with exempt charity status, and recognised public bodies.
Grants: £3m per year. £5k-£50k for ‘Archives Revealed’.
Details: ‘Aims are to improve the life chances of the most vulnerable in society and to preserve the best of our past for the benefit of the public’. Three focus areas: ‘preserving and conserving significant historic buildings, structures, objects, works of art, collections and records’, young women’s mental health, and ‘research, advocacy and development work in our areas of interest and where they might bring about systemic change, drive forward policy and practice or strengthen the sector’.
‘Archives Revealed’ is a partnership funding programme between The National Archives, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archival collections, and ensuring that significant archive collections, representing the lives and perspective of all people across the UK, are made accessible to the public for research and enjoyment. Apply to this fund via the National Archives website: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-revealed/
Wellcome Trust
Website: https://wellcome.org/grant-funding
Eligible applicants: Individuals and research teams with lead applicants in the UK.
Grants: Up to £5m.
Details: ‘Discovery research’ strategic programme includes projects which explore the ‘historical contexts of human health and disease’. Although most Wellcome funding focusses on academic medical research projects they have in the past occasionally supported history of medicine projects involving oral history, and community health and wellbeing projects involving personal memory.
Wolfson Foundation
Website: https://www.wolfson.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Varies.
Grants: 85% of grants go to buildings. The remaining ‘Funding for people’ is distributed via partners (https://www.wolfson.org.uk/funding/funding-for-people/).
Details: ‘Archives Revealed’ is a partnership funding programme between The National Archives, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archival collections, and ensuring that significant archive collections, representing the lives and perspective of all people across the UK, are made accessible to the public for research and enjoyment. Apply to this fund via the National Archives website: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-revealed/
Yapp Charitable Trust
Website: https://yappcharitabletrust.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Registered charities established over three years ago with a total annual expenditure of less than £40,000 which focus on one of the following priority groups: older people, young people, people with disabilities, social welfare or education/learning.
Grants: Up to £3,000 per year for up to three years. Around £200k total awarded per year. Grants are for ongoing running costs and salaries only, not for new projects or activities. Favour charities with volunteers in areas of depravation.
Regional and Local Funding Bodies
There is a host of local and regional funders and grant-making bodies: some formally established as trusts, some local businesses which will sponsor specific activities (such as some supermarket chains). Some are very local, confined to particular towns or cities: for example the Steel Charitable Trust which prioritises Luton, and the ‘London Borough of Culture’ scheme which funds individual London borough to run ‘a year-long programme of cultural activities celebrating the unique character of local people and places’. Many local authorities offer small ‘community chest’ grants, usually listed on council websites. Several national parks also run grant schemes which are worth looking at (for example the Yorkshire Dales National Park Sustainable Development Fund and the New Forest National Park community grants scheme.) Also bear in mind that when a new housing scheme, shopping centre, wind farm or similar are being developed there is sometimes local community funding associated with that, so these kinds of organisations are worth approaching at local level. Funding directories (above), local media and word-of-mouth will help you find many of these. What follows are a few indicative regional funders who have been previously sympathetic to oral history and heritage-based applicants.
Armed Forces Covenant
Geographical focus: UK-wide but locally delivered
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/armed-forces-covenant-supporting-information and https://covenantfund.org.uk/programmes/
Eligible applicants: Those working with military veterans and their families. Programmes vary.
Grants: Delivered through local authorities and the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. Small grants up to £59k, large grants up to £200k.
Details: ‘Community covenants complement, at a local level, the Armed Forces Covenant, which outlines the moral obligation between the nation, the government and the armed forces. It encourages local communities to support the armed forces community in their area and promote understanding and awareness among the public of issues affecting the armed forces community.’ Projects which ‘recognise and remember the sacrifices faced by the armed forces community [and] encourage activities which help to integrate the armed forces community into local life.’
Ballinger Charitable Trust
Geographical focus: North-East England.
Website: https://www.ballingercharitabletrust.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Charities, CICs and community groups based in the north-east of England, especially those working with young and old people.
Grants: Average £10k-£20k per year for up to three years.
Details: Mainly unrestricted funding
Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust
Geographical focus: Hampshire.
Website: https://www.charlottebonhamcartercharitabletrust.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: Small registered charities with modest reserves especially in Hampshire.
Grants: Small grants.
Details: Supports the arts, projects of cultural interest, preservation of the countryside, support for young carers and older people, and early intervention projects for disadvantaged children and young people.
Essex Heritage Trust
Geographical focus: Essex.
Website: http://www.essexheritagetrust.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: ‘Individuals or bodies who are preserving or restoring any aspect of our Essex Heritage’.
Grants: Range from £100 to £10,000.
Details: Grants include museum projects, historical research and publications.
William A Cadbury Charitable Trust
Geographical focus: Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Website: https://wa-cadbury.org.uk/
Eligible applicants: UK registered charities working in Birmingham and the West Midlands
Grants: Small grants from £250 up to £2,000; larger grants averaging £25,000 occasionally up to £50,000.
Details: Programmes include conservation, education/training, museums and the arts.
Granada Foundation
Geographical focus: North West England
Website: https://granadafoundation/org
Eligible applicants: Charitable organisations in the North West.
Grants: £500-£10k but will not fully fund a project.
Details: Support projects which encourage the study, practice and appreciation of the fine arts and sciences and to promote education.
Historic Environment Scotland
Geographical focus: Scotland
Website: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/grants-and-funding/our-grants/
Eligible applicants: Not-for-profit organisations based in Scotland.
Grants: Express grants (£1,000-£25k), small grants (£25k-£100k) and large grants £100k-£500k).
Details: Funding programmes include the main grants programme (which includes ‘intangible heritage’) and the ‘Heritage and Place Programme’ for larger projects.
The Strathmartine Trust
Geographical focus: Scotland.
Website: http://strathmartinetrust.org/grants-and-awards
Eligible applicants: Individuals or organisations research or education into Scottish history.
Grants: Up to £5k.
Details: For projects and publications.
Weir Charitable Trust
Geographical focus: Scotland.
Website: https://weircharitabletrust.com/
Eligible applicants: Scottish-based community groups and charities with an income less than £125k.
Grants: Up to £25k for one year only.
Details: Funding categories include ‘Culture’: ‘the heritage – tangible or otherwise – of Scotland, through projects that encourage participation in and preservation of Scotland’s distinctive culture’.
NOTE: This funding guidance has been compiled by Rob Perks. As funders and grant schemes and priorities change constantly, please check individual funder websites for up-to-date information. We are hoping to augment the listings here with new funders and grant-making bodies which have supported oral history projects, so do feel free to contact [email protected] with any updates, additions or corrections to these web pages.
This document created: February 2025.
Last updated: March 2025.
