Heritage Stewardship Scheme

Please note this scheme is now closed. 

Introduction

A key element of the Heritage Council’s Strategic Plan 2023-2028 is to foster a stronger heritage sector through the continued support and development of bodies who provide vital heritage services to communities and professions and who have responsibilities for the care of heritage objects. This funding scheme introduced in 2022 has been developed to meet this objective. We are aware that there are staff in state agencies and in educational institutions with responsibilities for heritage programmes, for example, stewardship of and access to collections, archives, buildings, monuments, and habitats. This fund is intended to support staff in such organisations who have not always had access to Heritage Council or indeed wider funding.

Objective of the fund

The objective of the Heritage Stewardship Fund is to support and build the capacity of staff who play a key role in the heritage infrastructure of Ireland and are vital to the delivery of national policy and plans. Such staff may be operating in organisations whose core remit may not be fully focused on heritage, but which may have an impact on heritage, or which may possess significant collections of portable objects, archives or buildings and habitats.

Who can apply?

This scheme is open to employees who play a key role in the heritage infrastructure in public sector bodies of the state, such as:

• Local Authorities
• State Agencies
• Educational Institutions

Local authority-based museum curators, archivists, archaeologists, architectural and conservation officers. This scheme is also open to employees of state agencies and educational institutions proposing heritage-focused projects, i.e., public sector bodies of the state that have a statutory obligation to perform specific tasks on behalf of the government.

Please note the scheme is not open to Local Authority Heritage Officers or Biodiversity Officers as funding is allocated through the County Heritage Plan and Biodiversity Plan funding schemes respectively.

Funding available

The minimum amount available is €5,000 up to a maximum of €30,000. We envisage the average offers to be in the €20,000 -€30,000 range and that about 20 projects will be supported by this scheme. Applicants are required to provide a financial contribution of 10%.. This scheme does not cover staff payroll costs or administrative overheads. Funding will be allocated on a competitive basis. This is in line with the assessment criteria set out on Page 3.

Zoom Information Webinar- 5th December 2004

How and when to apply

You must apply through the Heritage Council’s online grants system. We only accept forms submitted online. We do not provide or accept paper forms.

Please note that a new Online Grants System was introduced in 2024. If you did not receive grant funding in 2024 you will have to register first before you can start your application. Instructions are located here.

To consider your application, we must receive your online application along with supporting documents by Wednesday 15 January 2025 at 5pm. Applications, or additional information will not be accepted after this time. We will let you know, in writing, whether your application is successful or not at the beginning of March 2025.

What we can fund

Eligible costs include:

• Third party supplier costs e.g., professional fees to undertake a heritage audit, plan, or training, contractor costs for conservation of a building, object, habitat or site.
• Purchase of specialised equipment e.g., museum grade cases, monitoring equipment for humidity, temperature or light, interpretation, digital, or multimedia equipment, archival boxing for vulnerable documents etc
• Travel and subsistence costs for volunteers.

Ineligible costs:

• Overheads
• Administration fees
• Salaries of existing employees
• International travel

Supporting Information

Applicants are expected to upload supporting information with their application as follows:

1. Quotations, estimates or other evidence to support your costs, this can be a copy of the previous year’s costs.
2. Clear and current photographs of the building, place, or object/collection.
3. Relevant approvals, permissions, licences, or consents if required.
4. For conferences/events: programme outline, proposed speakers, venue/date etc.
5. For commissioned reports/surveys/audits: a copy of draft brief
6. For building/object/habitat conservation: a specification of works, clear & current photographs, and a map (for works to a building/habitat)
7. For digital resources: a user journey, sample of graphics and other visual content, draft text, technical specifications,metadata standards to be used, copyright, clarity on the treatment of personal data including imagery.
8.  Where digitisation of archives is taking place – an outline of how the original material will be treated during the digitisation and the plans for its care post digitisation.
9. Letters of support from your local Heritage Officer and any other key stakeholders

This list is not definitive, and you may wish to include other supporting information which should be comprehensive but brief.

• The number and type of documents will depend on the nature of your project and file names must reflect the content.
• Uploaded documents must be in PDF or JPEG format and not more than 10mb each.
  Do not upload documents in Word format

Examples of the types of projects for funding under the scheme:

• Projects that support the management and conservation of heritage objects to accepted professional standards.
• Projects that facilitate increased access to heritage with a special focus on inclusion and diversity.
• Projects that relate to climate change preparation for resilience through conservation planning.
• Projects that support partnership and networking events that address common challenges and needs.
• Projects that provide community training, traditional buildings skills, advice, and support to increase access to and
  awareness of heritage.
• Projects that support decision making and policy development for the management of heritage assets.
  Data collection and research relating to Ireland’s heritage that can be used for formulating future policy and advice, particularly urban initiatives.
• Projects that use digital technology to document, record, display, interpret and preserve both tangible and intangible heritage.

How we assess your application

Once your application is submitted, we will check it first to make sure it meets the criteria for eligibility and that all supporting information has been provided. Applications that do not pass this stage will not be assessed further.
Applications that pass the initial checking stage proceed through the following stages:

a) An internal review and shortlisting.
b) An external review panel to assess all shortlisted applications using the scoring system below. Applications must score at
least 10 marks under each heading to pass.
c) Heritage Council Board approval of recommended applications.

This is a competitive process and funding will be allocated to applications that score highest against the four Criteria listed below.