Before we dive in on where to start, what do we already know about the opportunity and its process?
Arts Council England have already announced the new strategic framework: Our strategy | Arts Council England and pledged to:
- Release more info this month (June26) on the new National Portfolio process
- Publish full guidance in September 2026
- Make decisions by July 2027 for funding commencing April 2028
That page is updated periodically so worth bookmarking it now NPO: Investment Programme | Arts Council England, and make sure you're signed up their newsletter and social channels.
So where might you want to start with your ACE NPO application readiness? A few bullets that might help...
- Try not to see this as just being about the NPO application - use it as a chance to look at your organisation in the round and see how ACE fits into that. Consider it as part of your business planning cycle, and even as a piece of strategic comms around your core case for support.
- Write your planning timeline by starting at the end (let's assume a December submission deadline) and work backwards from there - when does the final version need signed off by your board, who else needs to contribute internally and externally (eg partners), when is your away day, have you got leave (eg annual or parental) to work around etc.
- Start to get ready now with whatever you can, even before the full guidance appears in the autumn. What can you do now and over summer? That might mean gathering data or evidence, booking in a planning session or away day, starting stakeholder engagement with partners, or going back over your business plan to review and update it. Within that you might want to consider not just your model inc finances, governance, policies, people (staff, freelancers, volunteers etc), but also your activity and publics, audiences or communities.
The good news is that The Audience Agency can be alongside you through this in all sorts of ways from our evidence base of reports and dashboards to our varied expert consultants. We specialise in audience development, digital, community engagement, organisational development, business models, partnerships, creative place-making, evaluation and impact. Whatever format that support might take - facilitating an away day, running a workshop, commissioning a report, sitting with us as mentors/coaches - drop us a line to book a free 20 minute call to connect and start to think through what would help you.
