Our Heritage, Our Future visit to the Japanese Garden

We are thrilled to announce that the Make Your Mark in Volunteering campaign—a cross-sector partnership project hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland—has received just over £500,000 of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and NatureScot to help a wider range of people volunteer at Scotland’s museums, historic sites, nature reserves, archives, parks, zoos and community organisations.

This investment comes at a time when volunteering in Scotland is increasing overall, but participation is uneven across the population. According to recent data, participation gaps are growing between volunteers who are disabled and non-disabled, as well as those from lower and higher income households.

Volunteering in the heritage sector mirrors these national trends, with emerging skills gaps in digital, leadership and traditional and craft skills also an issue. This presents a national challenge for Scotland’s history, culture and nature organisations, which depend on strong community engagement to maintain their sites, landscapes, objects and stories.

The new funding will support work by the Make Your Mark in Volunteering campaign to improve access to volunteering as well as the quality of volunteer experiences.

Why is Funding Needed?

Volunteering with history, culture and nature organisations offers opportunities to meet people, develop skills, connect with local communities and enjoy new experiences. In turn, volunteers help care for and share the places, collections and stories that matter to communities. Volunteers bring additional capacity, insights and energy, contributing to organisational sustainability and stronger connections with communities.

Recent Scottish Household Survey results show volunteering increasing from 18% in 2023 to 25% in 2024. However, people in lower-income households, more deprived communities and disabled people remain significantly less likely to volunteer, with cost of living pressures and limited time continuing to act as barriers.

At the same time, many heritage organisations report an ageing volunteer base, with experienced volunteers stepping back and creating succession and skills gaps. Alongside this, there is increasing recognition that volunteering opportunities need to be more welcoming and accessible if participation is to widen.

What Will the Funding Do?

In autumn 2026, the campaign will launch a heritage skills development programme in partnership with environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful and Access to Industry. This will support people facing complex barriers to employment to build skills, take part in structured learning and access supported volunteering experiences with organisations across Scotland’s heritage sector.

Alongside supporting volunteer skills development, Make Your Mark will continue to support heritage organisations through inclusive volunteering guidance, training and peer support. This includes sharing good practice, improving approaches to volunteer recruitment and support and carrying out research to better understand who is volunteering, and why or why not. The campaign will also work with a range of natural heritage organisations, enabling them to co-design and deliver volunteering opportunities with under-represented groups as part of NatureScot’s Volunteering and Citizen Science Framework.

Alan Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer of Volunteer Scotland and Chair of the Make Your Mark campaign, said:

‘This new funding for Make Your Mark highlights the importance of ensuring Scotland’s built, cultural and natural heritage spaces are welcoming and inclusive for everyone. The campaign not only supports heritage organisations to develop more inclusive volunteering practices through peer support, training and guidance, it also generates valuable research, learning and tools that can benefit the wider voluntary sector.

This work closely reflects the ambitions of Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan by supporting organisations to remove barriers to participation and create opportunities that are accessible and meaningful. It is particularly encouraging to see the campaign continue to evolve through the development of a new skills programme, with inclusive volunteering embedded at its heart.’

Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland, said:

‘We believe heritage is for everyone, inclusion, access and participation is one of four investment principles that guide all of our work. This project also has that at its heart.

‘We want to see every project taking steps to reach out to new people, to share heritage beyond their organisation and to embed inclusive practice as far as they can.

‘Thanks to National Lottery players our support is helping Make Your Mark have a real impact. Increasing the quality, opportunity and accessibility of volunteering with Scotland’s heritage. Building new links between organisations and communities to develop the skills, training and connections needed to care for and share our history, nature and culture into the future.’

Dr Susan O’Connor, Head of Grants at Historic Environment Scotland, said:

‘In the past year, our grants funding has supported over 7,500 volunteers to participate in Scotland’s historic environment, and since the first data-led report on heritage volunteering in Scotland was published last year, we have seen that volunteering is critical to the sector and supports wellbeing and community development. But the research also highlighted persistent inequalities in terms of who has the time and resources to take part. By awarding grant funding to Make Your Mark, we’re helping to remove barriers so that more people can participate in ways that are meaningful to them, bringing us closer to a future that supports our mission to ensure that heritage is for all.’

To find out more about Make Your Mark, visit the Make Your Mark website.