Our Supporters

Patrons

We are incredibly grateful for the continued support from our Patrons throughout 2024/25. Through their generous contributions, our community of Patrons support all aspects of our work, including the care of our collections, gallery enhancements and groundbreaking research.

The Patrons Programme in 2024/25 was abundant with inspiring content to stimulate the hearts and minds of our Patrons. From private tours of various collection spaces, galleries and exhibitions including our offsite storage facility and deep-sea labs, to the annual Patron’s Night at the Museum in September, a cocktail reception at the David Aaron Gallery and a deep-dive into the wonderful work of the Angela Marmont, Centre for UK Nature, it was our pleasure to share the wonders of our collections with our Patrons and continue in our mission to create advocates for the planet.

Membership

Our members are incredibly important to us, and we continued to engage this community through a range of unique activities during 2024-25. In August 24 we re-branded Evolve Magazine and distributed key stories to a new audience; 124+ million monthly global subscribers across Apple News. This initiative raised awareness of the brilliant work the Musuem is delivering to support our mission, whilst increasing membership sales. In September we introduced the option for our members to pay for their annual membership in monthly instalments, making it more flexible and affordable for people to join. In October we welcomed over 850 new members, which was a record number of new joiners over a half term period.

Supporter engagement

We continued to successfully fundraise for the public phase of our Urban Nature Project appeal. Donors have welcomed the chance to add their name, or the name of a loved one, to the Museum’s gardens through an engraving on a bench or a railing. In March 2024 we hit our Public Appeal fundraising target of £650k with over 1,900 donors. We thank all those that donated to support this campaign. It was the Museum's first public appeal and has been hugely successful.

Philanthropy

In 2024/25 we launched our most ambitious fundraising campaign to date: NHM150. Philanthropic individuals and trusts and foundations have continued to support the Museum, funding the development of public spaces, temporary exhibitions and pioneering science, all contributing to the NHM150 campaign.

We’ve secured funding for the Museum’s first new gallery as part of NHM150: Fixing Our Broken Planet. This milestone was made possible thanks to Lead-level support from both the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation, and Wellcome. Their commitment to solution-focused research aligns powerfully with the Museum’s mission—coming together to inspire and empower a new generation of advocates for the planet.

The generous support of Huo Family Foundation as Lead Funder has been instrumental in bringing our Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth? temporary exhibition to life. Their support of our programming allows for the continued delivery of inspiring experiences for our visitors.

The Museum received funding from independent research scientist and mineral consultant, Dr Richard Sillitoe, to create our first endowed research post: Sillitoe Endowed Research Leader in Economic Geology. The perpetual post will enhance collaborative research links to explore economic geology, whilst making use of our laboratories and unlocking our mineral collection to reach new geological frontiers for mineral deposit discovery. The post will lead the Museum’s research in Researching the Green Economy, informing the future of ethical green energy.

We thank the generous individuals and trusts and foundations that have philanthropically given to the Museum in the past year. As we move into the second year of NHM150, we're focused on building lasting relationships and growing our community of funders committed to enabling people and the planet to thrive.

Corporate Partnerships

Partnering with organisations that share our passion for advocating for the planet allows us to extend the Museum’s influence and amplify our impact through diverse and meaningful support.

As Lead Sponsor of the Urban Nature Project, Amazon Web Services is enabling us to build a state-of-the-art Data Ecosystem to help accelerate the recovery of urban nature across the UK. The support of Workman LLP and Accenture has also provided a vital boost to the project, which culminated when we proudly celebrated opening our Gardens in July 2024.

Our vibrant partnership with Priority from O2 has grown, bringing even more exclusive rewards and experiences to O2 and Virgin Media customers through the Priority app. Plus, we’ve introduced fun activity worksheets for families to enjoy together. Similarly, our long-standing collaboration with the LEGO Group’s Build the Change programme has inspired schools, families, and SEND audiences to explore the natural world through playful, hands-on events. This programme was further extended this year through exciting new collaborations with eight national partners across the UK.

We also welcomed BEAR Snacks as sponsor of our Dino Snores for Kids events running across summer 2024 and 2025. Their support includes on-pack promotions and immersive brand integration within the events - all designed to inspire the next generation to become passionate advocates for the planet.

We were delighted to see GSK and Ørsted deepen their engagement, transitioning from Corporate Members to Supporting Corporate Partner and Corporate Collective member respectively, in support of our Fixing Our Broken Planet gallery and programme, opening April 2025. Their partnership will help us tell powerful stories about environmental challenges - and the inspiring work being done to tackle them.

Finally, we are delighted to welcome Jupiter Asset Management as Lead Corporate Sponsor of our exhibition Space: Could Life Exist Beyond Earth?, which opened in May 2025.

The Museum was proud to work in partnership with Microsoft and SAOLA Studio to create Visions of Nature: A Mixed Reality Experience hosted in the Darwin Centre. This immersive exhibition invites audiences to take a glimpse of our planet 100 years in the future and explore nature's resilience and adaptability based on collective human action taken today.

We continued to work with the following companies as Corporate Members: Artemis Investment Management, Bloomberg, BNP Paribas, Dell Technologies, Freshfields, Rio Tinto, and Van Cleef & Arpels.