Your support
We are always incredibly grateful for your support, and now we need it more than ever. Our charity relies on visitor donations to help deliver the amazing work we do and our temporary closure due to coronavirus is having a significant impact on our charitable income.
Whether you love our stuffed animals, glittering rocks, boats, trains and cranes, or are inspired by our old masters, mummies, historic houses or archives, please show you care by making a donation to Bristol Museums Development Trust (registered charity number 1137777).
Your support will help us care for more of the treasures in our collection and give access to academic research to unlock data that can tell us more about the world we live in today.
Simply click the button below to be taken to our secure payment pages. And please don’t forget to Gift Aid your donation so that for every £1 you give we receive 25p extra. Thank you so much!
Impact Report
If you would like to know more about our charity, Bristol Museums Development Trust, please take a look at our Impact Report (PDF 11MB). Our reach in the city and beyond is significant; culturally, socially and economically. Whilst we are generously supported by both Bristol City Council and Arts Council England, we still have to raise just over 40% of our funding ourselves. That is why we are so grateful to all our supporters who play a vital role in enabling us to continue to bring alive our cultural heritage and ensure we can share it with as many visitors as possible, now and in the future.
Join our Patron Circle
If you would like to develop a closer relationship with Bristol Museums, our expert curators and museum staff, and expand your knowledge of our collections, our Patron Circle provides an engaging and rewarding way to support us.
The generosity of Bristol Museums’ Patrons means that we can continue to support our education, community engagement and exhibition programmes and help to conserve and research our unique collections.
On joining our Patron Circle, you will enjoy an annual programme of benefits:
- Invitations for you and a guest to our exclusive exhibition Private View evening receptions (up to six exhibitions each year)
- Curator-led behind the scenes tours of our studios and collections
- Annual breakfast tour of our collections and heritage sites
- Summer Party at our beautiful historic venues
- Subscription to our newsletter
- Acknowledgement on Bristol Museums’ website (optional)
Annual Individual Patron £500
Annual Joint Patrons £750
With thanks to our current Patrons:
Simon and Ruth Baker
Mr Jan Beardkins
Mike and Anne Beesley
Chris Booy OBE
Jerry Cowhig
Rodney Grey
Ros and Cameron Kennedy
Dr and Mrs R M McKinlay
Terence and Julia Mordaunt
Anna Southall OBE
David Speller
Guy and Gill Stobart
Sue Thurlow
Our anonymous patrons
Become a member of our Patron Circle (PDF)
Sign up to our newsletter, Treasure
Would you like to read about behind the scenes activity undertaken by our curators, conservators, and other specialist staff? Through Treasure, the free twice-yearly newsletter from Bristol Museums Development Trust you can discover how your support could help unlock more of the treasures cared for by Bristol Museums and Archives.
Learn more and sign up to Treasure
About Bristol Museums Development Trust
Set up in 2008 to support M Shed’s development, today this independent charity raises funds for all visitor sites and museums, the collections, learning and many other activities undertaken by Bristol Museums and Archives.
Join the Friends
The Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives gives vital and substantial support for acquisitions, conservation work, exhibitions and refurbishment projects. They run a packed programme of engaging events, talks and trips so whatever your interest there’s bound to be something for you. Your diary will never be empty!
Involve your company
Our corporate membership and sponsorship packages offer your company unique opportunities for corporate hospitality, team building benefits and increasing brand awareness. The variety of our exhibitions and events means our sponsorship packages can suit a variety of marketing, PR and CSR needs at local, national and international levels.
Annual corporate membership will give you a host of opportunities to bring clients and staff to prestigious events and on bespoke behind the scenes tours. For a no obligation meeting to discover more about what have to offer, please contact Caroline Booth Morris, our Corporate Partnerships Manager [email protected] or 0117 922 3576.
We’re fortunate to have good company, and wish to thank our current Corporate Supporters:
Leave a gift in your will
Ensure our treasures can be discovered and enjoyed by everyone for generations to come.
Bristol Museums relies on gifts in Wills to support our charitable work, care for and expand our collections, educate and inspire our visitors and bring world-class exhibitions to Bristol.
A gift of any size will make a difference to Bristol Museums, and help bring our collections to life for future generations. After you have provided for your loved ones, please consider making a gift to our charity to help secure the future of Bristol Museums.
Unrestricted gifts to our charity are particularly valuable as they allow us to use your donation where the need is greatest. However, if you would prefer to support a specific area of our work, please contact us to discuss the options.
There are three types of gift you can make in your Will:
- A Residuary Gift
- A Pecuniary Gift
- A Specific Gift (of an object)
Gifts to charities are exempt from inheritance tax which means that leaving a gift to Bristol Museums Development Trust may help reduce your tax liability. In addition, if you leave 10% or more of the net value of your estate to charity in your Will, your estate may qualify for inheritance tax at a reduced rate. As everyone’s tax situation is different, we strongly recommend discussing this matter with your solicitor.
If you have left a gift in your will to Bristol Museums, or decide to do so, please do let us know so we can thank you and show you how your gift will make a difference to us. We would also like keep you up to date with all the activities going on at Bristol Museums and send you occasional invitations to our events.
To discuss leaving a gift in your Will in confidence, please contact our Development Lead, Katie Lee, on 0117 352 5568 or by email [email protected] .
In preparing your Will, your solicitors will need to know our charity details, which are:-
Charity name: Bristol Museums Development Trust
Registered address: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL
Registered Charity No: 1137777
To find a solicitor who can advise you on leaving a gift in your will, you can the Remember A Charity website.
Donating an object or collections
If you are considering leaving an object or collection to Bristol Museums during your lifetime or in your Will, please speak to a member of the Development Team first so that our curators can advise whether we will be able to accept the gift.
Bristol Museums is an accredited museum and has a responsibility to protect and preserve objects within our collections. If you are planning to donate an object during your lifetime or bequeath an object in your Will to Bristol Museums, please also consider whether you might be able to leave a pecuniary or residuary donation in order to support us in this endeavour.
Development Lead, Katie Lee, telephone: 0117 352 5568, email: [email protected]
In your lifetime
If the object or collections that you are considering donating are deemed to of ‘pre-eminent’ quality, it is possible to offer them to the nation under the Cultural Gifts Scheme to benefit from a reduction in income tax or capital gains tax (CGT) bills during your lifetime. More information on this scheme can be found on the Arts Council England website and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport website.
In your will
If you are considering bequeathing pre-eminent objects or collections to Bristol Museums in your Will, the Acceptance In Lieu scheme may reduce the Inheritance Tax liability on your estate. Further guidance on this scheme can be found on the Arts Council England website.