£58m Catalyst: Endowment programme grants announced 22 Jun 2012

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£58m Catalyst: Endowment programme grants announced

Thirty six arts and heritage organisations across the UK, including several NMDC members, will share £58m from the Catalyst: Endowments programme, a joint initiative between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Arts Council England (ACE) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The programme will provide grants of £0.5m-£5m in match funding to help arts and heritage organisations to build a new endowment fund or develop an existing one, in order to increase their annual income. The successful organisations are expected to use their grants to raise an additional £106m from private and corporate donors. Applications were assessed by an independent panel chaired by Michael Portillo, and final awards made by ACE and the HLF. HLF awarded £27.5million to 18 organisations including:

National Portrait Gallery - £1m
Sir John Soanes Museum - £2m
V&A - £5m
National Museum of the Royal Navy (HMS Victory) - £5m
British Library - £2m
Bowes Museum - £1m

The Heritage Lottery Fund will run a second round of Catalyst Endowments in the autumn, with awards to be announced in spring 2013. More information about HLF’s fundraising capacity building grants will be launched soon.

Speaking at the announcement of the funding on 20 June, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP referred to the $1.9bn endowment built up over a century by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which provides an annual income of around $100m and said: "what better time to start a British endowment century than now." His speech also focused on embracing digital technology, connecting with new audiences and increasing access to the arts for children and young people. DCMS HLF

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