Eighteen museum, art and heritage sites have been awarded Catalyst: Endowments funding to attract money from private philanthropic sources.

Thirty-four organisations around the country (click here for map) have been awarded Catalyst: Endowments grants of between £500,000 and £5 million in the joint initiative between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Arts Council England (ACE) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The successful projects are expected to attract an additional £106 million from private and corporate donors as a result of the scheme.

Among the largest beneficiaries are the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), which will receive a match-funding pledge of £5 million from HLF to support the Museum's ambitions to build a £100 million endowment over the next 15 to 20 years, and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which also receives £5 million to encourage endowments for the preservation of HMS Victory.

Successful recipients of ACE funding include the Serpentine Gallery, which will receive £3 million to create an endowment to support activity at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery.

The new Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, the Whitechapel Gallery in London and the the Trust for the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere will each receive £1 million from ACE.

Additional museums and heritage sites to receive Catalyst: Endowments funding from the HLF include:

The British Library (£2 million); Dulwich Picture Gallery (£2 million); Sir John Soane’s Museum (£2 million); The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham (£1 million); Holburne Museum of Art in Bath (£1 million), Lincoln Cathedral (£1 million); the Mary Rose Trust (£1 million); the National Portrait Gallery (£1 million); Pallant House Gallery in Chichester (£1 million); The Church of St Martin’s in the Fields, London (£1 million); the Trust for Horace Walpole’s Gothic mansion, Strawberry Hill House (£500,000); and Windermere Steam Boat Museum (£500,000).

Many of the successful applicants have already secured pledges from donors, or are in productive discussions with prospective corporate and individual sponsors.

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt said: "Long-term financial stability is an essential part of a successful cultural sector.

"With these grants, and the additional money they are bringing in, I’m delighted that we’ve been able to get a significant number of organisations on the road to long-lasting and sustainable endowments which will continue to support their work for years to come.”

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “The Catalyst: Endowment Programme is part of our response to helping boost private giving across the heritage sector. Alongside our plans to build the fundraising capacity of smaller groups, we expect the programme to form part of a shift in approach to philanthropic giving that will help build financial resilience and attract new money to heritage groups of every size.”

The Catalyst: Endowment fund is part of a package of measures put in place by the Government designed to increase philanthropy for cultural organisations. Other measures include:

• A change in inheritance tax rules to increase the number of people leaving money to charitable causes in their will;
• The establishment of a new Cultural Gifts Scheme which will encourage the donation of pre-eminent objects or works of art to the nation in return for a reduction in tax liability; and
• Reform of gift aid, reducing administrative burdens and allowing charities to claim gift aid on up to £5000 of small payments each year made without a gift aid declaration.