15 October 2026
The Museums Association has responded to the UK Government's National Lottery Good Causes: Fund What Matters to You consultation.
In the response, we:
- Highlighted the significant positive impact of National Lottery funding on the sector, spanning redevelopment, collections and community engagement.
- Asked for the funding distribution to remain the same – charitable activities, including health, education and the environment (40%), heritage (20%), arts and culture (20%) and sport (20%).
- Recommended giving communities more of a say by convening deliberative citizen panels or juries that represent the local community to inform funding priorities and strategy.
- Asked for a simplified funding process, detailed guidance on how applications are assessed (including criterion weighting), individualised feedback for unsuccessful applications, and consistency in the interpretation and application of the criteria.
- Recommended proactive outreach to reach smaller and less-resourced organisations.