Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage

When assessing your application, we will consider whether you meet the essential criteria for the programme. If you do not meet the essential criteria, we will not assess your application further.

We will also consider if your plans and risk level are proportionate to the amount of funding you are applying for.

Essential Criteria

You should only apply for this funding if you are able to meet all of the essential criteria:

• you must have been financially viable before COVID-19 (March 2020)
• you are at risk of no longer trading viably by the end of this financial year
• you can demonstrate that you have exhausted all other financing options. For example, applying for other emergency funds, reducing costs, diversifying income streams or taking advantage of government easements
• you have a clear plan towards future financial viability

We will assess the level of financial risk you are facing and also consider the impact the loss of your organisation would have on the heritage you manage, your local community and the wider heritage sector.

We will ask you to tell us what would happen to your heritage if your organisation stopped operating and will take into account whether it would put significant heritage at risk, lead to a loss of skills or a statutory service.

At this stage, we are planning for one application round. We will review this based on need and we advise you to submit your application for this round if possible.

Before you apply

1. We are not offering pre-application advice for this programme so make sure you read the guidance and check that you are eligible to apply.
2. Read the application questions [PDF] and prepare your answers in advance. You must complete your application in one go, you cannot save your application or return to it. We recommend you draft your answers before starting an application. Make sure you keep within the 2,000-word limit for the application form.
3. Have your supporting documents ready.

If you are applying for under £1million, you will need to provide:

• your most recent financial accounts
• a cash flow forecast, completed using the cash flow forecast template [Excel] for this financial year
• a business action plan, completed using the action plan template [Excel]. This plan must include the steps you will take to make your organisation financially viable in the future. 

If you are applying for £1million or more, you will need to provide

• financial accounts for the last 3 years
• cash flow forecast, completed using the cash flow forecast template [Excel] for this financial year
• a business action plan, completed using the action plan template [Excel]. This plan must include the steps you will take to make your organisation viable in the future.
• an up to date business plan. In your business plan, you will need to tell us how a grant from this fund will enable you to deliver on a clear and value for money plan to achieve financial viability by 31 March 2021 in the way that is appropriate for your organisation

You will need to demonstrate how your plan could enable your organisation to either:

• fully or partially remain open or reopen, where it represents a value for money approach, or
• not reopen, minimising costs in the interim period

You will need to tell us:

• your plan for the most value for money route to sustainability which sets out the key cultural activity you plan to progress with which is good value for money with social distancing in place, and which does not entail significant financial risks for your organisation, which shows you have taken appropriate steps to reduce costs, and have a clear plan to maximise income as fully as possible in a cost effective way, including extending opening hours if appropriate and taking advantage of temporary changes to Government rules and regulations
• how you have considered whether full reopening, scaled-back reopening, or remaining closed with a reduced cost base provides your best chance for longer-term survival
• how you have the skills and experience available at a senior level to enable you to adapt and flex your business to the changing external environment, and ensure the best chance of longer-term viability, sustainability and recovery
• what financial controls, monitoring and reporting processes you have in place to ensure the effective financial management of your organisation

You will receive an email after you submit your application with instructions to upload your supporting documents. You must send us your supporting documents within 24 hours of receiving this email and use the templates that we have provided for your cash flow and business action plan. When sending us supporting documents, please use the document names above so we can easily identify each document. Not using this format may delay your application. If we do not receive the documents within 24 hours, your application will not be assessed and will be withdrawn. 

Priority criteria

If your application meets the criteria outlined above, we will prioritise applications that demonstrate either:

• high heritage significance or
• high economic and cultural impact in your place