This brand-new two-year Business Support Programme has been set up in 2020 with the aim of creating a better connected, informed and resilient heritage landscape across England.

It will work with 150 small or medium-sized heritage organisations across England to develop essential skills in business planning, audience and stakeholder development, leadership and change management. 

Through a range of training, mentoring and peer learning, each participating heritage organisation will develop a clear business plan, a developed income strategy and the tools and knowledge to sufficiently respond to their specific needs and challenges.

To help assess and understand the current challenges for the sector and to build resilience business models, the Business Support Programme will commission the development of a heritage dashboard: a tool enabling organisations to compare and contrast their business models with those of a similar scale and make-up.

The two-year project will be free to take part in, and a third of participating organisations will receive access grants to support their ability to engage.