Funded by The National Lottery and led by independent charity Arts & Business Scotland, in partnership with Archaeology Scotland, Built Environment Forum Scotland, greenspace scotland and Museums Galleries Scotland, the four-year Resourcing Scotland’s Heritage project successfully delivered fundraising training and advice to 804 individuals from more than 519 heritage organisations throughout Scotland between its launch in 2014 and its conclusion in March 2018.
About the Report
Entitled ‘The State of Heritage Funding Now’, the specially commissioned report highlights the ‘double whammy’ effect of decreasing lottery funding as a result of declining National Lottery ticket sales and a fall in local government budgets for cultural and related services, which is compelling heritage organisations to look elsewhere for alternative sources of funding. Despite this trend, the new research shows a continued strong reliance by the heritage sector on grant and lottery funding with only a third of heritage organisations surveyed currently sourcing any funding from corporate support and levels of corporate support remaining broadly static within the sector over the past four years.
The report suggests that the RSH programme has played an important role in improving fundraising skills within Scotland’s heritage sector over this period but that many organisations still struggle to find the time and capacity to implement effective fundraising strategies. The report has been drawn up following extensive desk research, face-to-face consultation with more than 40 heritage sector stakeholder organisations and a detailed survey completed by more than 160 organisations from across Scotland’s heritage sector.
It concludes with a series of 20 individual recommendations aimed at developing a more comprehensive picture of funding in the Scottish heritage sector and placing future funding of the sector on a more sustainable long-term footing.
You can download and read ‘The State of Heritage Funding Now’ report below.
To access the ‘Inspiring Fundraising’ digital toolkit, visit www.inspiringfundraising.co.uk
Further support
• For heritage sector advice and training on all aspects of fundraising, sponsorship and governance, visit Arts & Business Scotland
• For built environment policy support and advocacy advice, visit Built Environment Forum Scotland
• For museums and galleries support and advice, visit Museums Galleries Scotlan
• For support and advice on archaeology and bringing Scotland’s past to life, visit Archaeology Scotland
• For advice on the planning, development and sustainable management of our greenspaces and parks, visit greenspace scotland