FAQs

Applications are by invitation only and at the moment we only fund a small number of institutions a year, each for a maximum of three years – so by autumn 2025 there will be around twelve projects ongoing at any given time. 

We only fund museums and galleries which are registered charities or run as not-for-profits. The exception is local authority museums, but they would need to have a charitable arm (e.g. a trust) to receive the funds. 

Yes. We do not have a hard and fast rule about the regional distribution of our funded programmes in any given year, but are hoping that we will eventually achieve a good spread of programmes across the UK. 

Yes. We have a particular interest in work with 13-19 year-olds, and our programme research is focused on that particular age group. (We do however accept that Year 8s may turn 13 during a project, so may actually commence the programme as 12 year-olds.)

No. Some grantees are keen to run both strands; some have a particular interest in developing programmes with one or the other. We are guided by applicants on this. 

Whilst we generally take an ‘inch wide, mile deep’ approach to our funded projects, we do want our funds to support as many young people as possible, so it is unlikely that we will support a programme strand with fewer than 10 participants. Some grantees choose to work with an entire class group of up to 30, some with smaller groups of 10-15, but the group size should never be fewer than 10 participants. 

Twin strand programmes (school + community group) are generally in receipt of up to £40,000 per year for three years (to a maximum of £120,000 in total) depending upon their organisational scale and project complexity. Single strand programmes (school or community group) are generally in receipt of up to £30,000 per year for three years (to a maximum of £90,000 in total), again depending upon organisational scale and project complexity. 

No. All donations are made through the US Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), so gift aid cannot be reclaimed. CAF does not provide opportunities for gift aid to the museum or gallery. 

Our programme research is developed through interviews and reflection sessions with project teams and facilitators, as well as a range of enquiry research methods undertaken by individual organisations. These include observations; discussion and conversation; surveys and interviews; group reflections; learning journals; and creative responses to key questions.

Our programme Research Lead writes up case studies of selected programmes to be shared, and these are checked with grantees before they are published. We also request and use images of the programmes. 

In addition to the case studies we publish a learning report each year which covers learning across all our funded projects. Obviously young people are never named in any of these reports – however, subject to agreement, schools and community partners are named. We also intend eventually to share our programme research through an annual in-person symposium, when we have research findings from several cohorts to share. 

We do. The research is seeking to create useful, engaging, story-rich outputs, underpinned by the following principles:

Accessible and inclusive

Responsible and representative

Art-led

The Programme Research is shaped and overseen by Research Consultant Anna Cutler and Research Lead Sarah Davies, alongside the cohort of project teams, to collectively ensure the research is ethical and non-intrusive in practice. 

The Programme Research aims to interact primarily with the funded institutions to explore the partner organisation journeys, and develop the overarching story of learning across the programme. It is understood that the institutions are best placed to gather feedback and research information, and it is recognised that challenges may result from the researcher’s presence during sessions or reflections.

Of paramount importance is the ability for the young participants to decide how to interact with the research and withdraw anytime, as well as stringent protection of participants’ confidentiality. For this reason, the Programme Research does not require individual participants’ data to be submitted for analysis and participants will never be identified in the research.

Yes. We currently have gatherings of all funded learning leads as we recognise that it is important to build a community of practice around this work with young people, and for everyone to learn from each other.