Future Preparedness Grants
The Future Preparedness Grants are made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we are able to support museums in the north of England to respond to and prepare for climate disruptions through this funding opportunity.
The aim of the Future Preparedness Grants scheme is to support museums to be able to conduct and commission the necessary research, reports and surveys to inform action plans for future resilience, build evidence for advocacy, and support future planning and funding applications for capital development to improve the long-term sustainability and environmental resilience of existing museum buildings and collections.
The Future Preparedness Grants can support:
- Work towards RIBA stage 0 to 3
- Assessment of, and research into, climate-related environmental risks and resilience of buildings and collections, now and looking into the future
- Commissioning building surveys and reports including condition surveys, climate risk assessments with recommendations, and conservation management plans
- Planning for maintenance, climate adaptation and mitigation, and decarbonisation
- Conducting research and compiling evidence to support advocacy for capital development fundraising
- Developing costed action plans
The following museums are eligible to apply for a Future Preparedness Grant:
- Museums in the north of England which are Accredited, hold provisional status, or are formally Working Towards Accreditation.
The following museums are not eligible:
- National Portfolio Organisations and DCMS sponsored National Museums, English Heritage and National Trust sites, and unaccredited museums.
Individual organisations can apply for up to £10,000 for their project with a minimum of 10 grant awards expected. There is one round of funding with £100,000 available in this scheme. We expect most grant applications will be in the region of £5,000 to £10,000.
The Future Preparedness Grant scheme opens for application on 6 October 2025 and closes at 4pm on 6 February 2026. Only one application should be submitted from your organisation. You must allow adequate time for the award process before starting your project. Any work started prior to completion of signing the grant award letter is at your own risk. Applicants will be informed of the outcome the week of 23 March 2026 with initial grant payments processed in early April 2026.
The full guidance is available here. Please read this guidance before applying. You must complete your application on the online form. The link for the online application is here and will be open to applications from the 6 October 2025. 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 would like to discuss your proposed application then please contact Kaye Hardyman and Sue Hughes at MDNsupport@museumdevelopmentnorth.org.uk.