Small Grants

Small grants of up to £3,000 are available to the following:

Provisionally and fully Accredited / Registered museums in the South East, except South East Hub museums
Partnerships of related organisations where the majority of the partners are museums from the categories described above. Eligibile partnership projects will be those based on collaborative work between museums, and between museums and related partner organisations. Museums benefitting from a partnership grant award are still eligible to apply for a grant in their own right, up to the threshold of £3,000.
Museums actively working towards Accreditation (formerly known as Registration). These organisations should contact their Museum Development Officer in the first instance.

In order to be eligible, projects should fall into one of the following categories:

Access, learning and audience develompent

Access and audience development initiatives, including implementing access audit recommendations
Work with, and resources for, schools, family groups, adult education groups and community groups
Materials/equipment for display, exhibition and interpretation improvements (e.g. labelling, display materials)
Users and non-user research
Learning audits, action plans and resources to develop learning opportunities for specific groups e.g. pre-school, reminiscence

Skills Development

Specialist training for museum staff and volunteers, including trustees (including attending AIM, MA and GEM conferences / courses) and in-house training if opened out to other museums
Travel expenses to specialist courses for staff / volunteers of smaller independent museums (including attending AIM, MA and GEM conferences / courses)

Planning and Accreditation

Development and implementation of plans, including forward/development plans, documentation / digitisation plans and collection management plans

Collection Management and Care

Documentation audits and action plans, as part of a Documentation Plan
Documentation/ digitisation software and equipment, as part of a Documentation / Collection Management Plan
Conservation audits and action plans, as part of a Collection Management Plan
Preventive conservation materials linked to an identifited project and / or programme of work
Environmental monitoring and control equipment
Hiring of freelancers / specialists to carry out work, as part of a Collection Management Plan

Renaissance South East grants are not intended to support:

Projects which are part of an HLF grant application, expect for work leading to that application
Day-to-day/recurring running, maintenance or marketing costs
Acquisitions, except contemporary collecting as part of an audience development project
Remedial conservation, i.e. the treatment of individual objects
Running events which are not part of a planned and sustained audience development programme
Training of principal benefit to an individual rather than to a museum

Applicants' contribution

Applicants are expected to make a contribution of at least 20% of the total project costs, either in cash, or in kind. Volunteer labour contributions should be calculated (in common with Heritage Lottery Fund guidance) on the basis of unskilled labour at £50 per day or £7 per hour; skilled labour at £150 per day or £21 per hour; and professional services at up to £350 per day or £50 per hour. Detailed records must be kept.

Please note; the cost of your organisation's own paid staff participating in the project should not be included as matched contribution.

Download Grant Guidelines for more information.

How to Apply

Contact your Museum Development Officer or follow the link for your sub-region to download the application form and to find out application deadlines