About this grant scheme  

The Skills Builder funding scheme offers grants of up to between £100 and £2000 to help anyone working or volunteering in museums develop their professional skills and build confidence to better support their museum’s resilience. Participants can be paid staff, trainees, interns volunteers, or trustees. Freelance consultants working directly with a museum or network can participate if the training directly impacts their work with the museum or network. 

Before completing this form, please read the general Grant Guidance document which is available on the Museum Development South East website.
 
You can preview all the questions by downloading a copy of the application form from our website, but please do not use it to apply – you must complete the online form below. If you are unable to use this form for technical reasons please email us at admin@mdse.org.uk.  
 
Eligible organisations: 

You can apply as a network, a partnership, or a museum. If you are applying as a network, your organisation must be based within Arts Council England's South East region and it must include membership from at least one eligible museum (see below).  

If you are applying as a partnership, the lead organisation must be an eligible museum within Arts Council England's South East region, and the other organisations must also be based in the South East region. 

Eligible museums are Accredited museums or those officially Working Towards Accreditation, which are not also National museums or ACE National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs).  

If you are applying as an individual museum, you must an eligible museum within Arts Council England's South East region.  

 
We do not fund:  

• activity that has already been delivered, commissioned or ordered  
• permanent staff salaries (although we will consider requests to 'backfill' roles if it is integral to the delivery of the project)
• general operating costs  
• contingency  
• internal admin and management fees to support the delivery of the project  
• hospitality costs over 10% of the grant total 
   

For more information about our funding criteria, deadlines, assessment procedures and advice on how to complete the application, please read our Grant Guidance document, which is available to download from the Grants page on our website. 
 
Talk to us  

It is a requirement that you talk to your local Museum Development Officer before submitting your grant application. This is to help improve the quality of your application, and improve your chances of success. The Museum Development Officer you talk to will provide more context on your application to the assessment panel. 

 
Terms and Conditions  

As part of our funding Terms and Conditions, we ask our grant recipients to:  

• complete the proposed activity no later than 12 months of receiving the grant award contract.  
• submit a Grant Report to MDSE no later than 12 months of receiving the grant award contract.    

Failure to uphold the T&Cs may affect your museum's chance of securing further grants from MDSE for up to 12 months.  
 
These grants are funded by Arts Council England and Art Fund.