Who are we?
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) distributes the heritage share of funds raised by the National Lottery. Good causes receive 28 pence in every pound and of this 4.66 pence goes to heritage projects.
Established in 1994, HLF has a unique approach as the only heritage body that operates throughout the UK, it funds projects such as landscapes and parks, buildings and streetscapes, museums, archives, industrial and transport heritage, collections, and projects around language, dialect and cultural traditions.
We support heritage with grants from under a thousand pounds for small community projects to multi-million pound grants for iconic heritage sites and buildings.
What relationship do we have to the national lottery?
The National Lottery was set up by government in 1994 with a remit to raise money for good causes, including heritage.
Camelot is the private company which currently holds the contract to run the lottery game and the lottery distributors are separate from this. HLF is an independent public body and makes funding decisions separately from the lottery with its own governing board of trustees.
More information about Camelot can be found on their website http://www.camelotgroup.co.uk/ or by contacting the Camelot press office on 020 7632 5711.
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for HLF in parliament and sets out funding priorities for good causes but does not take part in our grant making process.
Why fund heritage?
Heritage matters to everyone; it defines who we are, it is part of our history and reminds us of where we are in the world. Heritage can be personal to individuals and shared as a nation; the UK has a rich heritage which we can all take pride in.
HLF is committed to preserving this heritage for future generations to discover and enjoy, opening it up for the benefit of new audiences. Our unique broad approach means we can support many different causes which reflect the variety of heritage that is important to all kinds of people.
The National Lottery Act 1993 created the national lottery and made provision for the distribution of monies collected to be distributed to charitable causes in various areas including heritage. HLF announced its first grants in 1995 and has made over £4 billion in awards over the past decade to more than 26,000 projects.
Resources needed
Nobody has calculated the scale of funding required for restoring, preserving and opening up our entire heritage but estimates show that:
£5.6 billion needs to be found from public and private sources to bring Buildings at Risk back into use.
£1.2 billion would be needed to meet the backlog of work and ongoing repairs needs of 12,200 listed Anglican places of worship in England; this does not include the needs of places of worship of other Christian denominations and other faiths.
Around £3 billion is needed to regenerate our historic parks.
£10 million would create access to digital archives across the country
Canals and inland waterways need around £700 million to repair them.
£1.05 billion is needed to bring historic cemeteries into good condition.
In one English region alone (the North East), the regional agency identified a need for £40 million to expand museum, library and archive storage and modernise services.