The Isle of Wight is a unique place that has been shaped by a diverse range of people. We want to fund a wide set of Island based heritage and community organisations to capture, celebrate and curate the ‘every day’ heritage of the Island.
Criteria for Past Futures – This is the right fund for community organisations with an annual income under £500k who are working to showcase forgotten and hidden histories.
We are looking to support projects that address the following priorities:
- Heritage projects that tell the story of people on the Isle of Wight who are hidden from history or who might typically sit outside of mainstream historical narratives.
- Heritage projects that seek to reach new and/or diverse heritage audiences in engaging and accessible ways.
- The heritage assets from your project (e.g. photos, records, audio recordings, artefacts) must be accessible to the public and sustainably curated.
- Projects should be set in the context of the Isle of Wight – grants will be made to community organisations based in and reflecting Island communities.
Additionally, projects will need to demonstrate that they:
- Have considered within their budget costs related to the creation, curation and the maintenance of the heritage resources.
- Meet the Heritage Fund’s requirements around availability, accessibility and openness of digital outputs.
- Ensure sustainable public access to any digital resources for a minimum of five years.
- Understand how the grant investment will support learning within their organisation.
All grantees should work to meet the Heritage Fund’s Inclusion Good Practice guidance. If you are an Isle of Wight community organisation interested in finding out more about this funding and details of how to apply, please contact HIWCF on grantsadmin@hiwcf.com.
Key Dates:
- Drop-in session at Wight Aviation Museum from 10am-1pm on November 24th.
- Initial enquiries deadline of Tuesday 3rd February 2026 (this is to allow time with Kelly our Programme Lead)
- Full applications to be submitted by Monday 9th March 2026
Key Links:
- A PDF version of this text is available for you to download or print from the website.
- During our Past Futures drop-in sessions, Martha, our Digital Services specialist had created a Digital Brief template to hand out to attendees. It’s a way to summarise your application details in a check-list format for you to work your way through – here’s a link to download the template.
Partners Notes:
Creative Island is the Cultural Development Agency for the Isle of Wight, committed to ensuring that everyone on the Island has the greatest chance to participate in, enjoy and shape the place they live. Creative Island will work with applicants to help them outline their bids and navigate the requirements of utilising funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation (HIWCF) is an independent grant making charity supporting the Isle of Wight; our core aim is to tackle poverty and inequality. HIWCF will administer and manage this grant programme.
This grant programme is made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past. Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.
