Fundraising is essential to our sustainability and survival.
In 2016 we worked very hard to raise money through grants and generous donations to buy and restore the old Moravian Church in Malmebsury, now the Julia and Hans Rausing building. The building, opened in December 2018 by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, now houses our collection store and is used for education and fundraising events.
In 2019 we raised funds though grants from Art Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund to purchase a painting of Malmesbury Abbey by J.M.W Turner which was put on display in the museum in 2022.
Malmesbury Coin Hoard Funding
Since the hoard was considered treasure under the Treasure Act, it became property of the crown and was made available for purchase in the Autumn of 2014. Athelstan Museum was privileged to be offered the chance to acquire the hoard.
A successful application was made to the V&A Purchase Grant Fund and Headley Trust (their Museum Archaeological Acquisitions Scheme) which provided the majority of the funds for the purchase. This was supported by public donations which covered the remainder of the purchase cost.
Once the museum had acquired the hoard, we discussed what was needed to conserve and display the hoard with professionals, and then planned how to raise the funds. Given the significant cost of the project we knew we needed support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. But we also knew that getting a grant required a lot of support from others first.Wiltshire Council’s Area Board Grant started us off, which significantly helped with obtaining further grants.
Through the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) we received a grant for from the Pilgrim Trust, specifically to be used towards the conservation of the coins.
Malmesbury Civic Trust donated generously toward the permanent display of the coin hoard in the museum. They also donated greatly toward the cost of publishing the children’s activity book.
Waitrose, through their Green Token scheme help support and publicise the project.
The largest funder was the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It was because of them that we were able to get the whole hoard conserved and put it on permanent display in the museum. To do this we relied on recruiting a number of volunteers and ran a project of education, training and outreach as well as having volunteers do the labelling, recording and photography of every coin, and putting the display together.
And of course, none of this would have been possible without the generous donations and support of people from the area and from further afield.
In addition, each year we have to raise funds in excess of £24,000 to cover running costs. We have all kinds of fundraising activities to achieve this:
- Appeals to Members, Community and further afield
- Events in the Julia and Hans Rausing Building
- The museum shop. All proceeds support the museum.
- Grants/Trusts. We continuously apply
- Community. Our community donates generously but we are always looking for that next good idea
- Local businesses have supported us well
Please contact us if you think you can help.