Acknowledging Your Historic England Grant and Communicating Your Project
Everyone who receives funding from Historic England needs to acknowledge this publicly.
By accepting your funding from Historic England, you have made a commitment to acknowledge our support publicly. We ask that you share the news of your project and our funding with the public whenever you can.
We encourage you to do this during your project and afterwards, to celebrate what you have achieved.
Acknowledging our support means that you are required to show our logo on any products we are funding and at any sites where funded work is taking place, in addition to acknowledgement in all press and media activity. This might include using our logos on:
- Site signboards at buildings under repair or at an archaeological investigation
- Research reports, publications and other hard copy outputs
- Websites, job advertisements, events, marketing material, interpretation
Your grant contract will outline what is required of you.
We want you to share the news of your project and our funding with the public whenever you can, and we encourage you to be creative in how you acknowledge the support of Historic England. Our communications toolkit provides tips and inspiration to help you publicise your project effectively.
If you’ve received a grant through the government’s Culture Recovery Fund please follow our guidance on publicity requirements.
7 ways to acknowledge your Historic England grant
1. Make a plan
You should plan how you are going to communicate your project right from the start and speak to us before making any announcements.
The Public Engagement Manager in your local office can advise, guide and support you to achieve effective communications throughout your project. It's a good idea to draw up a communication plan with us at the outset and keep it updated as the project progresses. We can provide a communications toolkit for you to use.
If your project covers England or more than one region, one of our Media Managers will work with you on your communications.
2. Engage with the media
You should acknowledge your Historic England funding in all press, television and radio interviews and press releases.
You should work with your Public Engagement Manager or Media Manager if you plan to issue a press release, hold a press-call, or give television or radio interviews. Press releases must be agreed with us in advance and we should be offered an opportunity to give a quote and to take part in interviews.
We can offer tailored support to help you engage with the media, including preparing and issuing press releases in partnership with you.
3. Social media
You should acknowledge your Historic England funding in online coverage such as local community websites or blogs and in social media posts where possible. You can find more details about how to do this in our communications toolkit.
Please make sure we have agreed the timing and wording of social media announcements, especially confirmation of your grant.
Let your Public Engagement Manager or Media Manager know if you plan any significant Twitter, Instagram or Facebook activity so that we can support you via our social media channels.
4. On-site acknowledgement
a) On-site signage during site work
Where the project involves on-site work such as repairs or excavation you may wish to acknowledge our support while work is in progress. Signage should be displayed alongside the signboard that carries the contractors’ and/or professional adviser’s signs, or on the site hoarding.
You can produce site signage yourself using our logos and brand guidance. Where the site signage is being designed from scratch please include a Historic England logo in the design. You should follow our brand guidelines. All artwork should be approved with us in advance.
b) On-site explanatory material during site work
Work on site can attract considerable interest. This is a good opportunity to display publicity, educational material or an information board about the project. If you do, you should include a Historic England logo in the design. Again, you should follow our brand guidelines and agree text and artwork with us in advance.
c) Permanent on-site signage
We may ask you to install a permanent sign as a condition of grant. You will be advised early on in the project if this is required. Permanent signage may simply record Historic England’s role in the project, or could provide information about the significance and interest of the site.
We will work with you to produce permanent signage. You may need to commission specialist input to research and prepare any text and we will need to approve artwork and branding in advance. We will also be able to advise whether permanent signage will require listed building consent or scheduled monument consent.
5. Publications, educational and promotional material
All published reports should include appropriate acknowledgement of Historic England funding. A logo should be placed on the back cover of all publications except journal articles. Journal articles should acknowledge our funding in the text as follows: ‘This project has been supported by Historic England.’ This includes electronically published reports and articles.
A logo should also be used on any other form of printed or electronic material, including but not limited to leaflets, newsletters, educational materials and guidebooks.
6. Events and presentations
You should acknowledge Historic England funding at any event funded by us or related to a project supported by us. Please use a logo on invitations and publicity material and mention our support in speeches or presentations. You should let us know when all events are taking place well in advance as we may wish to send representatives or suggest guests.
7. Job advertisements
You should state Historic England’s involvement if you are advertising for a post which will be directly supported by our funding. This applies to print and online media.
Please refer to our communications toolkit for more guidance on how to acknowledge your grant.
Contact us
If you have any questions about acknowledging and communicating your Historic England grant, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your project officer or the Public Engagement Manager at your local office.
