Funding Details

Funding available

• Applications for 2026 open on Wednesday 22nd April, and close on 5th June at 5pm.
• 10 x funding grants of £3,000
• Up to £1,000 in match funding for all other eligible applicants*

*£500 will be added to the Match Funding pot for each eligible application received and up to £1,000 can be claimed per applicant. The match funding open date will be announced soon, and will be provided on a first come, first served basis.

What can you spend funding on

Funding provided in the form of TownsWeb Archiving’s digitisation and software services of equivalent value. Funding covers the digitisation of:

Part of the grant may be used to fund:

• Transcription of metadata
• OCR (optical character recognition) data capture

What can you not spend funding on

• Projects that do not involve at least some element of image capture
• On-location digitisation at client’s premises
• Audio-visual digitisation projects
• 3D digitisation projects
• Cataloguing of entire collections
• Pure digitisation training
• Purchase of digitisation equipment
• Salaries for project staff
• Archive website design/build
• Setup of Digital Collections Management System

Judging criteria

For 2026, our judging panel includes John Chambers (Chief Executive at the Archives and Records Association), Kathryn Tollervey (Archivist at The Photographers’ Gallery London), Audrey Wilson (Partnerships and Engagement Manager at Scottish Council on Archives), and Casper Smithson (Chief Operating Officer at TownsWeb Archiving), who will assess each application across four primary areas:

• Heritage need: Heritage value, uniqueness, and importance of the collection.
• Social/community impact: How local people and communities will benefit from the collection.
• Research value: Whether academic, social historians, genealogists, or other researchers.
• Improved accessibility: Such as platforms, preservation, and website access.

Further guidance can be found within the Grant Application Form.

Judging panel

Applications for the TWA 2026 Digitisation Grant will be assessed and the winning applicants chosen by our panel of judges below.

Who can apply?

The following organisation types:

• Public, private & charity archives
• Business/corporate archives
• Public & private libraries
• Museums
• Galleries
• Institutions and organisations that have applied in previous years (even if the application is for the same collection/project).

 

Note: We currently do not accept applications from:

• Private individuals with personal collections
• Digitisation/scanning bureaus

 

Organisations must be based within:

• Great Britain
• Northern Ireland
• The Isle of Man
• The Island of Jersey
• The Island of Guernsey
• The Island of Alderney

Opening date and how to apply

Applications for 2026 have not yet opened, but will officially open on Wednesday 22nd April. To be among the first to receive access to the grant application form, click here to sign up to our newsletter. The grant application form will then be sent to you via the email address provided. Applications close on 5th June 2026 at 5pm.

Contact

Please email any TWA Digitisation Grant queries to [email protected]

Terms & Conditions

A full list of Terms & Conditions for the TWA Digitisation Grant can be viewed here.