Museum Development Fund

Our Museum Development Fund exists to support museums to deliver medium sized, strategic sustainable development projects in line with your own business plans and Scotland’s museums and galleries Strategy. 

Projects can run over 2 years and in all cases, you will have to tell us what difference the activity will make for your museum in relation to our grant outcomes and how you will measure and report this impact. As a result of our funding: 

1. Funded organisations will be more resilient  
2. Funded organisations will be more environmentally sustainable  
3. Collections will be better cared for and managed and more accessible 
4. The museum workforce will be more skilled, confident, and diverse
5. A wider range of people will be engaging with and represented in museums 
6. Museums will enhance quality of life for people by improving wellbeing, supporting learning, or contributing to place-making 

You are required to demonstrate that your funded project will make a difference to your museum in line with two or more of our grant outcomes. You should consider carefully what you will be able to measure to report this impact as a direct result of the funded activity. You should not be tempted to say it will meet lots or all of the outcomes if you will not be able to evidence this at the end of your project. Doing so will weaken your case for funding rather than strengthen it. 

Additional guidance about what we are looking for in respect to each of these outcomes is provided and should be read by all prospective applicants. It can be accessed by clicking on each of the outcomes above. 

• In order to be eligible for MGS funding organisations must be able to demonstrate compliance with the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy which requires workers to receive payment of the real Living Wage and have access to appropriate channels for effective voice. The is a Scottish Government requirement for all recipients of public funding implemented from 1 July 2023. Further information can be found in Fair Work First – Guidance for funding applicants.
• Organisations that run Accredited museums in Scotland
• Accredited museums on behalf of partnerships, which may include non-Accredited museums 
• Formally constituted groups of museums (eg. geographical forums) which include Accredited museums which will benefit from the funded work. 
• In exceptional circumstances we may be able to accept applications from organisations that do not run Accredited museums themselves but are working in close partnership with Accredited museums to meet a need identified by those Accredited museums. Please be aware however that in the vast majority of cases we would expect the application to come from the museum and any exceptions would have to be agreed as eligible through discussion with MGS prior to submission.

As well as being Accredited, we expect the organisations that we fund to be committed to certain principles in the way they operate and develop projects. We expect the organisations we fund to be committed to: 

1. Fair work 
2. Taking action to meet net zero targets and tackle the biodiversity crisis 
3. Becoming more inclusive 
4. Sustainable strategic development 
5. Working collaboratively wherever possible

Please ensure that you read our further guidance regarding these expectations by clicking on each of the commitments above so that you are able to answer the relevant questions in your application.

When assessing your application, we will consider and rate the strength of the case you have made with regard to the below criteria. Applicants must remember that our funding rounds are competitive so you need to make as compelling a case as you can against these criteria.  

Remember that the person reading your application may well have no prior knowledge of your museum, needs, or circumstances and that providing evidence of the case you are making will make it much more compelling.  

All of these criteria are relevant no matter what your proposed activity is or how much you are applying for, but our Grants Team can help you with what level of detail and evidence might be relevant for your particular case, so please discuss this with them. 

The need to do the activity you are seeking funding for 

We need to understand why you need to do what you are proposing. You should help us to understand what would happen or be lost if you did NOT do this work. Remember to include evidence – this can be anything that helps us to see how vital it is that you do this work and that you do it now rather than in 6 months or a years’ time. Remember that what might be obvious to you may not be to someone who is not in your museum and working around this need every day. 

How well researched and developed your project idea is 

We need to understand why your proposed approach to addressing this need is the most appropriate way to do so. Tell us about the research and consultation you have undertaken, advice you have sought and how you have explored how others have addressed similar issues. You must demonstrate that your proposal represents value for money and that you have ended up with the most cost-effective option. 

The impact that your proposed activity will have   

We need to understand what difference the funded activity is going to make for your museum and visitors and how it will deliver against our grant outcomes. We are looking for the things that you will be able to measure to evidence impact as a direct result of the funded activity. We will also be looking at how you will sustain the benefits resulting from the funding after the funding comes to an end so that we can be sure our funding will move you forward, rather than leave you back in the same position you were in before you undertook the funded activity. 

Your adherence to the commitments we expect of organisations that we fund 

Please refer to our guidance around our expectations of organisations that we fund and if you have any concerns or questions regarding these or demonstrating your commitment to the principles, please contact our Grants Team. We are aware that different organisations are at different stages in the way they operate in relation to these principles. So aside from specific requirements (such as the requirement to be paying the real Living Wage) what we are looking for here is evidence of your understanding and application of  these principles in your specific circumstances, rather than seeking to compare your activity and progress around these to that of others.  

Your need for financial support to deliver the project 

Consideration will be given to whether your organisation is more able to support the activity from your own reserves than other applicants that are applying, or whether you have more funding avenues open to you than other applicants. In the interest of fair distribution of funds, we will also take into account the amount of money you have previously received from MGS when there is high competition for funds. However, please note that the success of your application will not be jeopardised by any money you have previously received from MGS as part of a partnership application or, if you are applying as a partnership, by funds previously received from MGS by individual partners. 

The deliverability of your project 

We need to be confident that you can deliver your project and that you have a strong chance of delivering the outputs and outcomes that you have identified. We will therefore be looking to see that your activity is fully planned out and carefully budgeted. 

• Core operating costs  
• Routine maintenance and like for like replacements  
• Acquisitions of collections  
• Work that has already started, or will start before our published decision date, other than preparatory work to identify scope
• Any more than 5% contingency (10% for capital projects) 

• Accredited museums can apply for grants between £15,000 and £60,000.
• You can apply for 100% of the costs of the work you are proposing but we welcome financial contributions from the applicant organisation or other sources wherever possible as this enables us to support more museums with our limited funds. 

All awards are offered at a percentage of the total project cost so if you do not spend as much on your project as indicated in your application the amount that you can claim from us will be reduced proportionately. The maximum amount you will be able to claim will be stated clearly in any offer of grant.

Before you begin an application, you must read the following: 

• Our grant outcomes and commitments for funded organisations and the guidance around these 
• Our assessment criteria and guidance 
• The guidance around Developing your project and application. Not everything on this page is relevant for all projects but there will be some things there that are relevant for your project and if you have not read them your application is less likely to be successful 

If you are considering applying to the Museum Development Fund please get in touch with the grants team at grants@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk by the EOI deadline below. The grants team are happy to advise on all potential applications. We know from experience that applicants who talk to us before application are more likely to be successful. 

All applicants must have submitted a Fair Work First Employer Declaration no later than 10 working days before the application deadline.

All applications must be submitted via our online application portal MGS Online. A PDF of the application form is available in the Supporting documents section below. This is for reference only and all applications must be submitted online.  

Apply via MGS Online

Prior to submitting an application, all applicants must have submitted a Fair Work First Employer Declaration form and return it to grants@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk not less than ten working days prior to the Application Deadline. Applicants need only submit this form once per financial year. You can access that form and further guidance on our Fair Work First – Guidance for funding applicants webpage.