The Marc Fitch Fund generally awards small grants, augmented by the occasional larger grant, towards the costs of publishing scholarly work in the fields of British and Irish national, regional and local history, archaeology, antiquarian studies, historical geography, the history of art and architecture, heraldry, genealogy and surname studies, archival research, artefact conservation and the broad fields of the heritage, conservation and the historic environment.
Please note that the Charity is a 'funder of last resort', stepping in to assist worthwhile projects that are at risk of failing without a grant, and where other sources of funds have been exhausted. For that reason, the Charity will ask applicants to explain why a grant is necessary and to demonstrate that they have made an effort to secure funding from other sources. The Fund also places great emphasis on the reports of referees and will expect to be convinced that the work being funded will make a new and significant contribution to knowledge.
The following funding streams are available:
1. Pre-publication grants: these are principally intended to help authors meet the cost of commissioning illustrative material or paying for reproduction licences. They can also be used to cover the costs of travel and accommodation within the UK and Ireland to visit libraries and archives or to commission specialist reports or translation services. They are not intended to cover the cost of your time spent in research and writing. To qualify, your work must already have been provisionally accepted for publication.
2. Publication grants: these are primarily intended to subsidise the costs of publication in circumstances where the publisher requires a subvention; for example, in order to increase the number of illustrations, to print in colour rather than monochrome or to reduce the retail price of the book.
3. Special Project Grants: from time to time the Fund considers applications for special projects that do not fit easily into one of the above categories, such as the conservation and study of significant artefacts or the cataloguing of collections. To qualify, original research and the publication of the results has to be part of the project.
4. Journal digitisation: the Fund is also willing to consider applications from local and national archaeological and historical societies towards the costs of publishing their journal backlists online, on condition that the results are deposited in a trusted digital repository and made available to all, without charge and in perpetuity. To be eligible for such funding, applicants must be able to demonstrate that they already have 50% of the costs in the bank.
Funding is not available for:
o Building works.
o Fieldwork.
o Foreign travel nor for research outside the UK/Ireland unless the circumstances are very exceptional.
o General appeals.
o Mounting exhibitions.
o Organising or attending conferences.
o New or revised editions of works already published.
o Scientific and technical research.
o The costs of getting to the UK/Ireland from overseas.
o Vocational or educational courses of any kind, including postgraduate and doctoral research, or
o Works principally concerned with the most recent past (post 1945).
The Charity has two deadlines for application each year, on:
o 1st March, and
o 1st August.
The next application deadline is therefore on Friday 1st March 2024.
To apply, applicants are required to provide a brief project outline. If the Fund is interested in taking the project proposal further, it will issue an application form together with details about how to make an application.
Further information and guidance is available on the Charity’s website.
