Case study:Achates Develops Strategy: National Museums Liverpool

National Museums Liverpool (NML) is a network of seven museums and galleries across Liverpool. In 2020, NML was exploring a new redevelopment on the Liverpool Waterfront, to include the International Slavery Museum an installation in Canning Dock by African American artist, Theaster Gates, the

Maritime Museum, and the Museum of Liverpool. NML engaged Achates to conduct a fundraising feasibility study for this capital project, followed in 2022 by a combined capital and revenue fundraising strategy for the project. 

Since then, Achates has acted as lead advisors on this redevelopment, including:

• Strategy Development: devising priority audiences, an impact and evaluation framework, and a narrative summary Theory of Change for the work. Work was undertaken to identify links between NML’s programming and its learning and participation offer, in order to make explicit the impact it is seeking with and for audiences. This understanding of how NML will drive a long-term change for different audiences was also used to underpin the fundraising approach – including through the creation of thematic donor segments and prospect research.

• Audience Development: given the ambition of the Museum to build on its status as an inclusive venue, and to avoid the problematic hierarchy between people who are paying to engage and those whose engagement is subsidised, Achates provided support to interrogate and develop its outreach offer, to progress plans for priority engagement audiences.

• Capacity Building: Achates led workshops for and coached all of NML’s senior management team. This has included building capacity in monitoring, evaluation and learning; and embedding fundraising within the strategic planning of the organisation.

• Strengthening The Group: Achates worked to build the understanding of fundraising as a group-wide commitment, shifting the culture away from loyalty being to individual venues within the NML portfolio. This included the development of a case for support for NML as a whole, with key elements of identity feeding into internal and external communications.

The focus of our work was in building capacity and confidence within the NML team and providing the tools so that this work could be led internally, including through the capital campaign and development. This work was handed over in 2024, and the capital works are now imminent.