Double the Donation, Double the Difference

Thanks to you, we have reached our Double the Donation, Double the Difference fundraising target!

Our Double the Donation, Double the Difference campaign has been generously supported by Sheffield philanthropists Graham and Sue Royle, who pledged to match every donation you made up to a total of £150,000. Your response has been incredible – over the past six months you have given a fantastic £159,138, which combined with Graham and Sue’s match pledge brings us to a campaign total of £309,138!

Here's Sheffield Museums’ Chief Executive, Kim Streets, on what your generosity, and Graham and Sue’s incredible support, means for the people we serve.

Across the six museums we care for we welcome around 740,000 visitors every year. Throughout the museums and beyond, we work with Sheffield’s communities to tell the city’s remarkable stories and bring people together to learn, create and discover. The support you have shown, together with the fantastic generosity of Graham and Sue Royle, makes a huge difference to that work.

Each year, we welcome over 17,000 schoolchildren from across the city region for eye-opening visits and jaw-dropping activities. Thanks to your support, children and young people will benefit from out-of-the-classroom learning experiences that broaden horizons and build confidence.

These visits don’t just support the curriculum, they help children feel seen, capable, and inspired. We always come away feeling that something special has taken place.

Teacher, Woodthorpe Primary School

Every school holiday, families know they can depend on us to provide fun-filled, creative activities that are freely accessible to everyone. And we’re delighted to welcome the return of our monthly Art at the Start and weekly Friday Under 5s sessions, which set our youngest visitors on their own journeys of discovery. Because of you, every Sheffield family has the opportunity to play, grow and create together.

We’re honoured to be custodians of the Sheffield’s museum collections, so much of which is testament to the people who have called the city home throughout the centuries. Thanks to your generosity, we’re able to safeguard Sheffield’s heritage and celebrate the multitude of stories that make the city truly unique.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you back to Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in the spring to explore its history in our new welcome hub. You’ll also have the opportunity to try out our brand-new play area when the Hamlet reopens at the end of March.

Truly amazing, been mesmerised by this since a kid ...love it

Visitor on experiencing the River Don Engine in steam

We believe everyone in Sheffield should be able to enjoy the very best in art and design, right here on their doorstep. Thanks to you, next month we’re delighted to welcome the prestigious Taylor Wessing Portrait Photo Prize direct from the National Portrait Gallery. We’re also collaborating with Sheffield charity, ArtWorks to present work by artists who have a learning disability, are autistic, or both, from around the globe.

New displays are also being prepared for the Graves Gallery’s reopening in February, including an exploration of LGBTQ+ stories in the city’s art collection and an exhibition of new work by internationally acclaimed Sheffield-based artist Ryan Mosley.

This is one of the best exhibitions I’ve ever seen – beautiful, informative – varied, too much to see and take in one visit. Thank you!

Visitor to the recent Colour exhibition at the Millennium Gallery

Helping people make connections – to their city, their history, to new ideas, and each other – is the foundation that Sheffield’s museums are built upon. Because of your continued support, people can find place and purpose, recognise the things that unite us and cherish those things that make each of us unique, all through the stories we tell together.

Everything we do is made possible by you.

On behalf of the team at Sheffield Museums, and everyone we’re here to serve, I’d like to say a huge thank you. We look forward to making more museums memories with you in 2026.

Best wishes,

Kim

Your generosity continues to make a huge difference

The museums are places of wonder – and that’s thanks to you. By donating online, or onsite when you visit, you’re helping to provide joy-filled, inspirational experiences for people of all ages.

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