*Updated on 08/05/2025*
INVITATION TO TENDER: NATIONAL LOTTERY HERITAGE FUND PROJECT EVALUATOR
Contract: up to £5,637 available, to include VAT and expenses.
Work: to take place between June and August 2025, exact dates to be negotiated.
Location: remote.
Deadline to apply: 11.59pm on Tuesday 27th May 2025
Find out more by downloading this PDF: Project Evaluator Mills Archive Trust 2025
In 2023, The Mills Archive Trust was awarded a grant of £198,751 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, made possible by the money raised by National Lottery Players. Now that most of the project has been delivered, with the project wrapping up in September, we are seeking to appoint a project evaluator.
The Lottery’s grant has supported our project, Reading emPOWERed, to preserve and engage a wider range of people in the records of wind and water power. Wind and waterpower have been used for millennia to produce the food and goods needed to grow civilisations. The threat of climate change and energy costs have provided new impetus to understand these renewable energy sources globally and in our local community.
Exploring the collections and their contents in new and inspiring ways, and involving the public in those explorations, the Trust set out to test various learning opportunities in our local area of Reading in Berkshire, as well as more widely, about the history of both, revealing their course from traditional mills to modern turbines.
About the invitation to tender:
We are looking to appoint a freelance Project Evaluator to work with the Director and Chairman of the Trustees to develop and implement an evaluation methodology for the project. The evaluation should help us understand the impact of the project, including to what extent we have achieved stated objectives and project outcomes; identify any unplanned outcomes; help us understand what has enabled us to achieve our aims (as well as what may have hindered this).
Proposals are welcomed from individuals or consultancies with an understanding of the archive sector, a proven track record of working within funded projects, and experience of interpretation.
The following outputs will be required:
- A start-up meeting with key staff.
- Agreement of research methods and methodologies.
- Interim progress meetings on Zoom.
- Delivery of final report.
The evaluator’s responsibilities will include:
- Gathering qualitative and quantitative evaluation data.
- Where appropriate, providing the team with evaluation tools.
- Producing an evaluation report at the end of the project, approved by the Trust.
How to respond to this invitation to tender:
Please email your proposal to the Director, Elizabeth Bartram, by 11.59pm on Tuesday 27th May. The proposal should cover:
- Why you would like to work on this evaluation.
- Why you think you are suitable, including examples of relevant experience.
- A costed proposal for how you would approach the evaluation (including timescale).
- Two referees.
- Details of Professional Liability/Professional Indemnity Insurance.
To find out more information about the opportunity, details about the project, who we are looking for and the payment arrangement, please download this PDF: Project Evaluator Mills Archive Trust 2025
For more information, contact Elizabeth Bartram.
This contract is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and made possible by money raised by National Lottery players.
Other opportunities
We run paid internships from time to time, as well as offer a range of volunteering opportunities. Opportunities may include cataloguing, digitisation, repackaging, library support and fundraising and development assistance. To find out whether we have any opportunities like this, we encourage you to get in touch via our contact form.
We can also give advice on the sort of work experience that may be beneficial when considering a future career in archives.
