Wandsworth Community Heritage Fund 2026

The deadline for the Wandsworth Community Heritage Fund applications is 5pm, Thursday 7 May. Projects will need to take place from July - December 2026.

Over 2025-26 Wandsworth Council has been awarded the title of London Borough of Culture by the Mayor of London. Our vision for London Borough of Culture is to harness the power of culture to transform our residents’ lives in terms of health, happiness and equality of opportunity. Celebrating the heritage and history of the borough and our diverse communities is a key part of Wandsworth’s year as London Borough of Culture and its legacy programme, and thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund we are delighted to be able to offer this grants programme for 2026.

Aims and objectives

We want to uncover and sharing the stories and experiences of the diverse communities that have made their home in Wandsworth over the centuries. We want:

• Local (Wandsworth based) groups interested in uncovering the borough’s heritage to contribute to the cultural agenda of the borough;
• Residents to engage in, inclusive heritage activities that are meaningful and relevant to them, and that help broaden their awareness of the borough’s past;
• The wider community to better understand the histories of fellow residents, colleagues and students making a positive difference in Wandsworth, and be inspired by them.

Projects should also link to at least ONE the London Borough of Culture programme five key themes, harnessing the power of culture to: 

• CONNECT: Connect people to life-changing experiences – opening the doors to creative jobs, discovering heritage and meeting people where they are, so that we can fall in love with arts and culture.
• UNITE: Unite, because we are better together, united by or aspiration to imagine a brighter future for people, communities and our borough.
• HEAL: Because building a celebration of history of the diverse communities into healthcare helps us thrive. By approaching wellbeing holistically, culture can support people body and soul, to live better.
• NOURISH: Creating the conditions for young people to express their creativity, their heritage and be part of their communities.
• ACTIVATE: Inspiring people through culture to take real steps to reduce pollution and their carbon footprint; reconnecting people with sustainable living and the natural environment.

Commissioning fee and timeframe

We are seeking proposals from organisations that can deliver community focused heritage-based activities and events. We can offer commission fees of between £500 and £2,000 (excluding VAT) to support the development of content or programming between July 2026 to December 2026. 

Key Criteria

Priority will be given to proposals which demonstrate the following:

• Close alignment with the borough’s and/or our communities’ history, culture and heritage
• Delivery by an organisation whose strategic plans involve engaging with the borough and its residents over the mid to long term
• Live events must take place within the borough
• All projects must have participatory elements and demonstrate targeting and engagement with Wandsworth communities
• Clear benefits to the local community e.g. through participation, enjoyment, skills development, health and wellbeing improvements, learning, progression routes etc, and how you will demonstrate this
• Target beneficiaries - making specific reference to your target beneficiaries and specify the methods you will use to reach them and how you will measure their engagement.
• Value for money

What is considered a Heritage Project?

Heritage can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations. Projects can include:

• Oral history recordings of people’s stories, memories and songs, as a way of communicating and revealing the past.
• Cultural traditions exploring the history of different cultures through storytelling, or things that you do as part of your community. This could be anything from dance and theatre to food or clothing. It could also include the heritage of languages and dialects.
• Commemorations and celebrations – telling the stories and histories of people, communities, places or events related to specific times and dates.
• Nature – works to improve habitats or conserve species, as well as helping people to connect to nature in their daily lives.
• Designed landscapes – improving and conserving historic landscapes such as public parks, historic gardens and botanical gardens.
• Historic buildings, monuments and the historic environment – from houses and mills to caves and gardens. Areas that are connected to history and heritage.
• Community archaeology involves the active participation of volunteers in archaeological activities, everything from investigating, photographing, surveying, excavation and finds processing. Sometimes it is called public archaeology.
• Museums, libraries and archives – making the collections that the council, libraries, archives and local museums hold more accessible through new exhibitions or engaging people with interpreting new and existing collections.
• Industrial, maritime and transport – places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history.

Guidelines

When considering whether to submit a proposal or not, please take into consideration the following: 

1. Permissions for publicity

All community-led heritage projects must credit Wandsworth Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Welcome To Wandsworth London Borough of Culture on their marketing, media and PR content. Selected projects must commit to share their copy, logo and a selection of high-quality images with the Council at least 6 weeks prior to all events taking place so that they can be included in the Council’s publicity campaigns.  Where there is digital activity, the Council will reserve the right to have digital content links available on wandsworth.gov.uk, welcometowandsworth.com and all its social media channels. 

2. Accessibility

• How will you promote your event to make sure it reaches the whole community?
• How will people attend your event (e.g. is the venue accessible? is it easy to get to? etc.). Please consider that live and online events will have different requirements around accessibility.
• Have you considered what may be barriers to engagement, and how will you address them?

3. Event permissions 

Please ensure that you have all necessary permissions, venues and licences for your event to go ahead.

Have questions about your application? 

Register for one of our Q & A and Meet The Funder Sessions for Wandsworth Community Heritage Fund

• Thu 19 March, 2pm - 3pm
• Wed 22 April, 10.30am - 11.30am
• Mon 4 May, 10.30am - 11.30am

Book now

Application deadline

Please complete the below online application form and excel budget sheet to give us details about your proposal. Please submit both by 5pm, Thursday 7th May 2026.

Please note, the Council will notify all organisations who have submitted a proposal to let them know whether they have been successful or not w/c 22nd June 2026.