Open Grants

MD North Open Grants are a major part of the Museum Development North programme using our core funding from Arts Council England.

What are they for?  
These grants are to support organisational development that helps museums to meet or go beyond the requirements of the Accreditation Standard. For Round Four, MD North has also received additional funding by Gift-in-Aid from the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media & Sport via Arts Council England specifically for disseminating Collections Care and Security Grants.

By organisational development we mean interventions that might:

• Build your museum’s capabilities and capacity to achieve your long-term goals
• Improve performance of how you plan for and deliver some of your services
• Support testing, trialling or changing approaches to the way you work
• Enable your workforce to flourish, thrive and have meaning in their work

All projects must also demonstrate how they deliver against Arts Council England’s Investment Principles in ACE’s Let’s Create:

• Ambition & Quality
• Dynamism
• Environmental Responsibility
• Inclusivity & Relevance

Who can apply?

Open grants are available to the following types of museums:

• Museums in the north of England which are Accredited, hold provisional status, or are formally Working Towards Accreditation
• Museums that are not Accredited, or not formally Working Towards it, can be part of a project involving a partnership of museums, but an Accredited museum must be the lead partner.

The following museums are not eligible:

• National Portfolio Organisations and DCMS sponsored National Museums.

How much can we apply for? 
The maximum amount an individual museum can apply for is £5,000.

Multi-site organisations, partnerships and consortiums can apply for £7,500 where the funding will benefit more than one Accredited museum, including those officially Working Towards Accreditation.

We may release up to 90% of the grant value on signing the grant acceptance letter with the remainder on completion of the project, submission of final report and proof of expenditure.

When can we apply? 
Open Grants Round 4 & Collections Care and Security Grants of grants is now open and closes on 12 September 2025.

All projects funds must be spent and completed with final reports and invoices submitted to MD North by:

• Open Grants Round 4: 29 January 2027
• Collections Care and Security Grants: 28 February 2026

How do we apply? 

You must talk to a Museum Development Adviser from MD North before you apply, ideally giving plenty of time for us to respond ahead of the application deadline.

This means that MD North can:

• Give you advice on whether your project proposal fits the purpose of the Open Grants and will help you respond to the guidance
• Help you to develop good responses around how your project supports the ACE Investment Principles and application questions
• Gain extra insights and context to your application that we can take to the Open Grants Assessment Panel to support your application.

The full guidance is available here. Please read this guidance before applying. To submit your application for Round 4 funding use this online form. Applications open on 9 June. Advice on how to complete specific questions on the form can be found here. There is also a Word version of the application if you would like to draft out your answers. Please do not submit this version, it is for planning only, please submit your application on the online form.

If you need any support with completing your application please contact your Museum Development Adviser or Kaye Hardyman, kaye.hardyman@museumdevelopmentnorth.org.uk.