The Heritage Lottery Fund is the UK’s leading funder of our diverse heritage and the only heritage organisation that operates both across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and funds the entire spread of heritage – including buildings, museums, natural heritage and the heritage of cultural traditions and language.

We help groups and organisations of all sizes with projects that:

• conserve the UK's diverse heritage for present and future generations to experience and enjoy;
• help more people, and a wider range of people, to take an active part in and make decisions about their heritage;
• help people to learn about their own and other people's heritage

Heritage includes many different things from the past that we value and want to pass on to future generations. Heritage projects might include:

• people's memories and experiences
• histories of people, communities, places and events
• cultural traditions
• historic buildings and townscapes
• archaeological sites
• collections of items, archives or other materials
• natural and designed landscapes
• habitats and species
• sites and collections links to our industrial, maritime and transport history.
  
  Since 1994, the HLF has awarded over £4 billion to more than 27,000 projects across the UK. Last year, four out of five of our grants were for amounts of less than £50,000, many going to small community groups. Our biggest ever grant was £26 million to restore the historic Kennett and Avon canal which runs between Reading and Bristol.