Strong projects begin with meaningful engagement. Funders expect to see that you have listened to local people, understood their needs, and involved them in shaping your plans.

Community engagement is about widening participation, building relationships, and working with people rather than making decisions for them. It helps ensure your project reflects real lives, priorities and values, and that its benefits are felt beyond your immediate congregation.

Thoughtful engagement does more than meet a funder requirement. It deepens understanding of local needs, strengthens trust, and helps you design work that delivers genuine community benefit—something consistently prioritised by major funders across sectors. In many cases, the insight and partnerships developed through this process become some of the most significant and lasting outcomes of the project itself.

What is Community Engagement?

Community engagement means inviting people to play an active and meaningful role in discovering, interpreting and sustaining their local heritage. It goes far beyond simply attracting visitors or running a survey. True engagement creates opportunities for people to contribute their ideas, experiences and creativity at every stage of a project.

At its best, community engagement builds shared ownership and pride. It ensures that heritage is understood not only as something to preserve, but as something living, dynamic and connected to people’s everyday lives. It strengthens relationships, increases participation and helps your project reflect the diversity and values of the whole community.

Why is it important for funding in heritage-focused applications? 

As the major heritage funder in the UK, the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s expectations around community engagement set the tone for many other heritage funders, trusts and UK grant schemes. If your project can meet Heritage Fund standards, it will also stand out and appeal to others. The Heritage Fund and other funders want to see that projects that:

  • Include and represent your local community.
  • Respond to local priorities and show how heritage makes life better.
  • Remove barriers so that everyone can take part and feel welcome.
  • Create lasting relationships, skills and confidence that continue beyond the grant.

Keep it simple

A good engagement plan should be focused, realistic and achievable. You do not need to reach everyone in your parish or community — and funders do not expect you to. What matters is choosing the demographics or partners where you can make the most meaningful difference and where the conversation genuinely adds value to your project.

Simplicity starts with clarity. By defining your why (the purpose of engagement) and your what (the specific activities you will carry out) at an early stage, you create a framework that guides your planning and keeps the engagement focused and manageable. This also makes it far easier to explain your approach in a funding application and to evaluate what has worked well.

Its worth noting that a small number of well-chosen, well-delivered engagement activities will always have greater impact than a long list of actions you do not have the capacity to deliver.

Evidencing Need

Funders expect to see that your engagement plans are based on real understanding of your community. Before designing activities, build a clear picture of who your community is, what they value, and how they currently engage with your heritage and space. This need can be evidenced through:

  • Community audit – Demographic data: age, ethnicity, languages, household types, deprivation indices (use ONS, Trust for London, or local authority data). Cultural and community assets: local groups, schools, charities, and faith or cultural organisations etc.
  • Community consultation – Conduct a survey or speak with people directly to find out what they think, feel and want from the church.
  • Steering group – Bring together a small, representative group to guide the project. Include members of the congregation members of local community or partner organisations.

  

Lowering barriers, widening access

Funders often expect projects to lower barriers and widen access so that people from all parts of the community can participate—not just those already connected to the church. This includes recognising and responding to the needs of people with disabilities, addressing racial inequity, and ensuring diverse voices shape and benefit from the project. The goal is that everyone feels welcomed, represented and able to take part fully.

Lowering barriers begins with understanding what prevents people from engaging. These may be physical (steps, poor lighting, inaccessible information), cultural (not feeling represented or safe), social (lack of confidence or previous exclusion), or economic (costs, travel, equipment). Naming these barriers openly helps you design work that actively removes them rather than unintentionally reinforcing them.

Digital engagement ideas

Digital tools and platforms can open up new, creative ways to involve people in the exploration and celebration of heritage. As technology evolves, so too do the opportunities to reach wider audiences, remove barriers to participation, and invite communities to shape how their stories are shared. Below are just a few examples of how digital approaches can enrich your engagement work:

  • QR‑coded self‑guided trails that link physical heritage sites with online stories, videos, and interactive content—allowing visitors to explore at their own pace and discover layers of history that may not be visible on site.
  • Augmented‑reality (AR) maps and experiences that bring buildings, landscapes, and historic moments to life through digital storytelling, helping people make deeper connections with the places they live and visit.
  • Digitised archives and oral histories presented as online exhibitions, podcasts, or community-curated collections, making heritage accessible beyond geographic boundaries and enabling contributors to share memories in their own words.
  • “Digital heritage cafés”—informal drop‑in sessions or workshops where people can learn basic digital skills while helping to document local history, scan photographs, record stories, or co‑create digital exhibits.

Case Studies

The following examples show how churches and community projects across the UK have creatively engaged people with heritage:

Reviving Calverley Old Hall, West Yorkshire.

  • Workshops, events and training in masonry, timberwork and conservation for volunteers, trainees and apprentices — opening heritage careers to young people, asylum seekers and job-seekers.
  • Read more

St John’s Church, Worksop.

  • Repair of the church spire alongside a Community Connect Café for people experiencing loneliness.
  • Training in digital skills delivered by a partner charity.
  • Read more

St Mary the Virgin, Wiveton

  • Eco-friendly churchyard conservation, haymaking, bird and bat box installation
  • STEM Day for children blending nature, learning and faith.
  • Read more

St Nicholas Church, Wells-next-the-Sea

  • Churchyard conservation and wellbeing courses run with Norfolk Wildlife Trust, schools and a community hospital — supporting young parents, over-60s and primary pupils.
  • Read more

St Mary’s, Stebbing

  • Ecologist-in-Residence leading nature recording and family learning
  • Interpretation and activity packs encourage wider audiences.
  • Read more

Reawakening St Mary Magdalene, Newark

  • Storytelling workshops, walks and training with schools, Age UK and Ukrainian families
  • Placements for young people in heritage skills.
  • Read more

St Margaret’s, Braemar

  • Concerts, exhibitions, ceilidhs, markets and youth music workshops revived the building as a vibrant cultural hub.
  • Read more

St James, Aslackby

  • Heritage engagement focused on dementia-friendly activities — accessible guides, interpretation, and audio recordings co-designed with carers and local groups.
  • Read more

St Mary the Virgin, Stoke Lacy

  • Oral history training for 50 volunteers
  • Public events, car rallies and a local heritage festival celebrating the Morgan Motor Company founder’s birthplace.
  • Read more.