As the largest funder of UK heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund (Heritage Fund) invests money raised by National Lottery players across the UK, in collaboration with a wide range of statutory bodies, as well as other National Lottery distributors.
Since 1994, we have invested over £8.2billion of National Lottery funding in more than 46,000 projects. The breadth and reach of what we fund is truly spectacular – our projects stretch from the Isles of Scilly to the north of Scotland. Our funding has supported rare yellow bumblebee conservation in Scotland, seagrass restoration off the Welsh coastline, the natural beauty of Binevenagh in Northern Ireland and the restoration of historic landmarks such as Stonehenge in Wiltshire and Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire.
Our work is made possible thanks to the support of National Lottery players. We award 20% of the Good Causes income raised by National Lottery players and deliver grant programmes on behalf of the UK and devolved governments.
Most of our funding decisions are taken locally, by people who live and work in areas where their decisions have impact, and we make every effort to encourage a local focus on those who make funding decisions.
Wherever possible, we work in partnership with local and UK-wide experts, ensuring that our funding has the biggest impact and creates long-term, sustainable change.
Heritage Fund investment transforms places across the UK, making a positive and lasting difference.
The Heritage Fund have just launched a new 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033. Over the next decade the Heritage Fund will take a longer-term view, investing for the future as well as for the present.
Through the 10-year strategy, the Heritage Fund will:
· invest in places, not just individual projects, to bring about benefits for people, places and our natural environment.
· strengthen partnerships with governments, local authorities and statutory agencies and create new collaborations with those who share our vision.
These ambitions are set out in a simplified investment framework with four new investment principles – saving heritage;protecting the environment;inclusion, access, and participation;and organisational sustainability – which will form the foundation of our shared vision for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone. The Heritage Fund Board and Executive team looks forward to welcoming a Boardroom Apprentice who shares this vision.
Why the Heritage Fund is supporting Boardroom Apprentice
Investing in the UK’s heritage and ensuring everyone in the UK has opportunities to explore, access and enjoy heritage has always been at the heart of the Heritage Fund’s mission. However, in order to do this, we recognise that we need to do more ourselves to achieve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in all aspects of our organisation and its work.
Bringing about change is an ongoing process. As an organisation we are listening and learning to help drive the change we want to see. We are committed to supporting the sector to better reflect and represent the UK public. In the summer of 2020, we launched a wide-ranging review of the Heritage Fund’s approach to diversity and inclusion. Following this, in October 2020, we announced an exciting new traineeship programme in partnership with the Windsor Fellowship.
As trustees, we lead on strategic developments and make decisions on grant requests over £5million. We believe that the Boardroom Apprentice scheme offers the Heritage Fund a fantastic opportunity to bring different voices to our board considerations. We also believe a placement would be a brilliant opportunity for a young professional with an interest in heritage to gain the experience they need to go on to become a Board member in future. We are committed to building a group and pipeline of decision makers representative of the diversity of the UK public at every level.
As the Heritage Fund transitions into our new strategy, this is the perfect time for a board apprentice to join us to help deliver on our investment principles and ensuring that our ambitions for heritage are achieved. A key investment principle is inclusion, access and participation and we hope that the apprentice would further the goal of ensuring everyone has the opportunity to learn, develop new skills and explore heritage, regardless of background or personal circumstances.
Focus statement:
The Heritage Fund are looking for an individual with an interest in, or experience of the heritage sector, who wants to gain Board experience with a view to a future Board appointment and supporting further diversifying the pipeline of potential Board appointees in the heritage sector.
We are looking for someone whose vision aligns with our own investment principles – saving heritage for now and the future, protecting the environment by supporting nature recovery and environmental sustainability, supporting great inclusion, access and participation and strengthening heritage organisations to be adaptive and financially resilient and embodies our values and behaviours which are the bedrock on which we build success for our people, communities and heritage.
During your placement, you will receive:
· A full corporate trustee induction with clearly set aspirations as the foundation to create a positive experience
· Board member buddy, who will support objective setting, personal development, conduct reviews/appraisal and support succession planning.
· Executive member buddy, who will support strategic planning discussions
· Access to Heritage Fund technology
· Access to all Board papers
· Attendance virtually and/or in person at all Board meetings with expenses, travel and accommodation fully paid.
· Attendance virtually and/or in person at a UK wide Committee with expenses, travel and accommodation fully paid.
· Attendance at project visits (if applicable)
· Regular opportunities to feedback with Governance
Location of Board and Committee Meetings
UK Wide
Frequency and timing of board/committee meetings
Board meetings take place approximately every 6-8 weeks.
Business meetings start at 09:00am through to 15:00pm.
Meetings are rotated around UK wide locations with at least 2 awaydays during the course of the year.
Date of Board Meetings (January 2024 – December 2024)
Board meetings take place during the months of February/March, May, June, September, October/November and December
Committee of the Boards and meeting dates (January 2024 – December 2024)
Attendance virtually and/or in person at all Board meetings (dates tbc)
Attendance virtually and/or in person at a UK wide Committee meeting as a shadowing opportunity (dates tbc)
Attendance at project visits (if applicable)
