Funding Details

Funding available

• 3 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. Match funding opens on 29th August 2025 and will be provided on a first come, first served basis. We will be closing the match funding pot on the 10th October 2025.

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:

• 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

Our judging panel includes John Chambers (Chief Executive at the Archives and Records Association), Sara Pink (Director of Library & Archives at The Royal College of Surgeons of England), 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 2025 Digitisation Grant will be assessed and the winning applicants chosen by our panel of three judges.

John Chambers

Chief Executive of the Archives & Records Association

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Sara Pink

Director of Library & Archives at The Royal College of Surgeons of England

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Casper Smithson

Chief Operating Officer at TownsWeb Archiving

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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

Closing date and how to apply

All applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on 25th July 2025. Winners will be announced live at the ARA Annual Conference and via livestream on 28th August 2025.

To receive access to the grant application form, click here and complete the short form. The grant application form will then be sent to you via the email address provided.

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.