Fundraising for Archives

The Fundraising for Archives project ran between 2015 and March 2018, and provided training and support to those looking to grow the funding for their archive service.  During this time, over 400 people participated from right across the sector; not only qualified archivists, but also volunteers and members of archive Friends groups. All of our training was fully funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the resources continue to be free for all to access.

What support is there?

Over time, we aim to make all of the training materials available (information on the topics covered can be found further down the page). In the meantime, our online resources are available to all.

eLearning

Although our programme of one-day training sessions has now come to an end, we have developed online courses so you can undertake fundraising training wherever you are in the UK. Video tutorials and step-by-step guidance will introduce you to the topic and guide you through online activities so you can put what you are learning into practice and tailor it to your archive service. Find out what training is available and how to get started.

Additional modules will be made available soon.

Toolkits

We have also published three online toolkits for you to download:

Financial Planning toolkit

A foundation to embarking on fundraising, this toolkit enables you to assess your financial position, explore your options and decide how to put your plans into action.

Building Networks and Supporters toolkit

People are the key to your fundraising success. This resource will guide you in identifying and influencing the networks which matter, raising the profile of your service and unlocking the advice and resources which supporters can offer you.

Measuring Outcomes toolkit

This toolkit provides guidance on how to create an outcomes framework to measure and demonstrate the impact your service makes. It will also help you use this framework to advocate continued or new support from stakeholders.

What fundraising topics have we covered?

As part of the Fundraising for Archives programme, we have built training packages on the following topics. We will be releasing training materials from these courses shortly to enable you to make use of them with staff and friends of your archive service.

The building blocks to fundraising

Fundraising activities

How do these modules all fit together? Check out our infographic (PDF, 0.29 MB)

Statement on use of data provided to Fundraising for Archives programme (PDF, 0.14 MB)

This project was run in partnership with the Archives and Records Association (ARA), the Scottish Council on Archives (SCA), the Museums, Archives and Libraries Division of the Welsh government (MALD) and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), aiming to reach as many people across the UK as possible.

Project evaluation

Read the evaluation report (PDF, 2.0 MB) for Fundraising for Archives, created by RedQuadrant.