Heritage Compass is a business support programme funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, designed to grow resilience and invigorate the heritage sector across England.

Launched by Cause4 and Arts Fundraising in partnership with Creative United and the Arts Marketing Association, the Heritage Compass programme will be working with 150 small or medium heritage organisations from across England to build their resilience through working together, as well as developing their individual strategies. Organisations taking part will be offered tailored training, mentoring and peer learning, helping them to develop strategy and move forward as part of a dynamic new cohort of Heritage organisations.

The original programme started in January 2021 and ran until June 2022.

Additional funding now available

Thanks to additional funding from the Heritage Fund, we are delighted to be able to open up participation in the programme to more heritage organisations. Applications are open from 26 September to 2 December 2022.

What kind of support is being offered?

The 150 organisations selected for the programme will each receive:

• 8 hours of 1:1 business mentoring
• 8 hours of 1:1 critical friend support
• 6 workshop training days covering subjects such as governance, accessing investment, improving enterprise and marketing

The programme also includes symposia and e-learning.

What kind of organisations are taking part?

In order to be eligible for the Heritage Compass programme, organisations must:

• Have max turnover of £1m
• Be a heritage organisation which has purpose of either:
  • Collections
  • Cultures & Memories
  • Historic Buildings & Monuments
  • Community Heritage,
  • Landscapes & Nature
  • Industrial, Maritime & Transport
• Be either a Start-Up; Registered Charity; Charitable Incorporated Organisation; Community Interest Company; Social Enterprise; B Corporation or Not-For-Profit
• Be Based in England

The programme is also offering participant organisations a grant of up to £5,000 to help widen access to the programme for smaller, volunteer-led organisations.

More information can be found on the Arts Fundraising website via the link below.