Case study:Achates Generates Income: Birmingham Museums Trust

Rowena Dean, Director of Development, Birmingham Museums Trust.

Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT) is the largest independent charitable trust of museums in the UK, caring for a collection of over one million objects across nine venues. The Trust has ambitions to be the first large museum in the world with a visitor demographic that reflects the community it serves. With a bold, participatory approach shaped by its co-CEOs, Sara Wajid and Zak Mensah, BMT are democratising access to Birmingham’s cultural heritage and passing power to citizens to make decisions about the stories told across their city.

In 2024, BMT was awarded funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for Laying the Foundations, a major project to establish the organisational framework for a radical transformation of BMT to become a resilient and financially sustainable organisation with the structure, culture, skilled workforce, and audience insights to be able to deliver its ambitious vision. Achates worked with BMT’s Director of Development and wider team to build on the momentum of this unique opportunity and strengthen the Trust’s fundraising activity to support organisational change and development.

Achates delivered targeted prospect research, the development of a masterbid to serve as a flexible core narrative for funder approaches, and hands-on support in developing a range of key strategic applications. Alongside this, Achates provided mentoring and strategic guidance to support new members in BMT’s development team and embed longer-term fundraising success.