National Lottery Project Grants: Guidance Library

This guidance is for applications for £30,001 - £100,000.  

Click on the guidance document/s below to save and read offline.  

• Guidance for applicants -  £30,001 - £100,000 
• Easy read: Guidance for applicants -  £30,001 - £100,000. 
• Large print: Guidance for applicants -  £30,001 - £100,000. 
• Audio: Guidance for applicants -  £30,001 - £100,000. 
• British Sign Language (BSL): Guidance for applicants -  £30,001 - £100,000. 
• Application form questions – offline version £30,001 to £100,000
• Access support 

Additional guidance: 

• Touring projects strand (regional, national, international) information sheet

This guidance is for applications for £100,001 and over. 

Click on the document/s below to save and read offline.  

• Guidance for applicants  - £100,001 and over
• Easy read: Guidance for applicants  - £100,001 and over  
• Large print: Guidance for applicants  - £100,001 and over  
• Audio: Guidance for applicants  - £100,001 and over  
• British Sign Language (BSL): Guidance for applicants  - £100,001 and over  
• Application form questions - Offline version £100,000 and over 

Additional guidance: 

• Major projects information sheet 
• Touring projects strand (regional, national, international) information sheet 
• Place Partnership information sheet 

Before you begin your application, read the Guidance for applicants carefully to make sure your application is eligible.  

Find out the common reasons an application may not be eligible for Project Grants funding in our Is My Project Eligible? information sheet.

You will be asked to confirm if you have read this when you apply for Project Grants.

From time to time, we may ask for specific types of applications through National Lottery Project Grants to help us achieve our Strategy.

The opportunity to respond to any of these priorities is part of National Lottery Project Grants and not a separate programme.

Any application must meet the criteria for Project Grants, as well as respond to the specific characteristics of any priority.

While we encourage applications to respond to time limited priorities we remain open to all other types of applications through the other strands of National Lottery Project Grants.

National Lottery Project Grants is prioritising the following types of projects:

Supporting Grassroots Music

Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the UK Government’s Creative industries sector vision, £5 million has been invested to support Grassroots Music. As part of this, the Supporting Grassroots Music fund will specifically support rehearsal and recording studios, promoters, festivals, and venues for live and electronic music performance. Read the guidance and information sheet for more details on eligibility, budgets and the application process.

Unlocking Collections

As part of the Arts Council’s commitment to funding museums and their collections, Unlocking Collections campaign is a Time Limited Priority within National Lottery Project Grants, aimed at enabling museums to develop their collections-based work and increase public engagement with, and use of, their collections.

Universal Library Offers (From 1 November)

Public libraries can apply for our Universal Library Offers Time limited priority which sits within National Lottery Project Grants. This is aimed at enabling public libraries with their delivery of the four Universal Library Offers: Reading, Health and Wellbeing, Digital and Information, and Culture and Creativity.

Volunteering Futures (Now closed)

Please make sure you have also read the Guidance for applicants.

If your organisation receives regular funding from Arts Council and is planning to apply to National Lottery Project Grants, read our Funded Organisations information sheet. 

Find out more about our funded organisations: 

• National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs),  

• Investment Principle Support Organisations (IPSOs) 

• Transfer Organisations  

• Music Education Hubs (MEH) 

This additional guidance relates to paying people as part of your project. Please make sure you have also read the Guidance for applicants. 

We are committed to making sure those who work on creative and cultural projects are properly and fairly paid. 

We expect you to show how fees for people you are working with are in line with, or better than, legal minimums, any relevant recognised codes of practice and/or guidelines set by the relevant lead bodies. 

For information on Fair pay, as well as volunteers, internships and work experience, please read: 

If your application includes activity on any of the topics below, we recommend that you read the relevant information sheet to support your application. 

Please make sure you have also read the Guidance for applicants. 

Click on the words below to view the information sheet.  

• Buying equipment and assets   

• Building projects  

• Children, young people and learning 

• Creative Health projects

• Digital and technology-based project 

• International activity

• Library projects 

• Literature projects 

• Museum and collection projects 

• Repeat projects, ongoing overheads and salaries 

• Research and Development 

• Touring - Developing a project 

There are some circumstances when you will need permission from us before you can make an application. This additional guidance will help you to understand when this might be needed.  

Please make sure you have also read the Guidance for applicants. 

We welcome applications that deliver creative or cultural projects in an environmentally responsible way. 

You can find out about the positive steps you can take by having a look at our Environmental Responsibility information sheet. 

This is where you can find templates to help you provide the application information that we need.  

Project Grants cashflow template: 

Examples of project descriptions – coming soon