L0025
NEH Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller institutions

LimSub URL: http://limsub.iu.edu/limsub/LimSubDetail.asp?Number=2050

IU Internal Deadline: 02/20/2014

NEH Application Deadline: 5/1/2014

Brief Description: Updated guidelines will be posted at least two months in advance of the deadline listed. In the meantime, please use the guidelines for the previous deadline, to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions – such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities – improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials.

Preservation Assistance Grants may be used for purposes like these:

• General preservation assessments
• Consultations with professionals to address a specific preservation issue, need, or problem
• Purchase of storage furniture and preservation supplies
• Purchase of environmental monitoring equipment for humanities collections
• Education and training

Award Amount:

• Grants of up to $6,000 will be awarded.
• All grants are awarded for a period of eighteen months, although a grantee may complete a project in a shorter period of time.
• Cost sharing is not required in this program. If eligible expenses are more than $6,000, an applicant may cover the difference and show this as cost sharing in the project&39;s budget.

Eligibility: Applicants must demonstrate that they:

• care for and have custody of the humanities collections that are the focus of the application;
• have at least one staff member or the full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid; and
• make their collections open and available for the purpose of education, research, and/or public programming, as evidenced by the number of days on which the institution is open to the public, the capacity to support access and use, and the availability of staff for this purpose.

Individuals are not eligible to apply.

Limitation: One per campus

Only one application for a Preservation Assistance Grant may be submitted annually by an institution, although distinct collecting entities of a larger organization may apply in the same year, such as the library and museum of a university or two historic sites within a historical society.

For consideration, submit the following documents electronically to Etta Ward, emward@iupui.edu, by February 20, 2014 for internal competition.

1.       Provide a one-paragraph abstract (up to one thousand characters) describing the nature of the collections that are the focus of the project, their significance to the humanities, and the specific goal(s) and activities that the grant would support.

2.       1-3 page Project Narrative (limitation does not include references) that:

• State the specific activity or activities that the grant would support and the goals of the proposed project.
• Describe the collections that are the focus of the project, emphasizing their significance to the humanities.
• Discuss how this project fits into the institution’s overall preservation needs or plans. Describe the current condition of collections and the environment in which they are stored. Explain how the proposed activities build on previous preservation efforts and how the project fits into future preservation plans. In addition, explain how the project would increase your institution’s ability to improve collection care beyond the period of the grant.
• Outline the steps of the project, the sequence in which they will occur, and indicate who is responsible for which activities.

3.       A Letter from the Chair or Dean

4.       2-3 page abbreviated CV for the PI

L0130a
NEH Challenge Grants

LimSub URL: http://limsub.iu.edu/limsub/LimSubDetail.asp?Number=2049

IU Internal Deadline: 02/05/2014

Optional Letter of Intent: 3/20/2014

NEH Application Deadline: 5/1/2014

Brief Description: Updated guidelines will be posted at least two months in advance of the deadline listed. In the meantime, please use the guidelines for the previous deadline, to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

NEH challenge grants are capacity-building grants, intended to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for their humanities programs and resources. Through these awards, many organizations and institutions have been able to increase their humanities capacity and secure the permanent support of an endowment. Grants may be used to establish or enhance endowments or spend-down funds that generate expendable earnings to support and enhance ongoing program activities. Challenge grants may also provide capital directly supporting the procurement of long-lasting objects, such as acquisitions for archives and collections, the purchase of equipment, and the construction or renovation of facilities needed for humanities activities. Funds spent directly must be shown to bring long-term benefits to the institution and to the humanities more broadly. Grantee institutions may also expend up to 10 percent of total grant funds (federal funds plus matching funds) to defray costs of fundraising to meet the NEH challenge.

Award Amount:

NEH will offer successful applicants a matching grant. The requested grant amount should be appropriate to the humanities needs and the fundraising capacity of the institution. The federal portions of NEH challenge grants have ranged in recent years from $30,000 to $1 million, the maximum amount that may be requested. Requests over $500,000, however, are unlikely to be funded at the requested level, and in recent years the maximum grant has ranged between $425,000 and $500,000. Applicants wishing to apply for a grant of more than $500,000 should consult with NEH staff about the size of their requests. Smaller grants for sharply defined purposes are encouraged.

Fund-raising:

NEH challenge grants assist institutions in developing sources of support for humanities programs, and fundraising is an integral part of the long-term planning that challenge grants require. Persons raising the funds as well as those who will be directly responsible for the humanities programs should be fully involved in the planning from the outset. Grant recipients must raise, from nonfederal donors, three times the amount of federal funds offered.

Eligibility:

With the exception of elementary and secondary schools (public or private) and school districts, any U.S. nonprofit institution (public agency, private nonprofit organization, federally recognized Indian tribal government) working wholly or in part with the humanities may apply for a challenge grant. Affiliated institutions (for example, a university museum) should consult with NEH staff on questions of separate eligibility. Institutions that support research, education, preservation, and public programming in humanities disciplines are eligible to apply for an NEH challenge grant.

Limitation: One per campus  

Institutions may apply for only one NEH challenge grant in a calendar year.

To apply for IU Internal competition:

For consideration, submit the following documents electronically to Etta Ward, emward@iupui.edu, by February 5, 2014 for internal competition.

1.       1-2 page research statement briefly describing the proposed project, especially its humanities content, and the humanities credentials of the scholars and other staff who would be involved in planning and implementing the project. Also include plans for raising matching funds. Limitation does not include references.

2.       A Letter from the Chair or Dean

3.       2-3 page abbreviated CV for the PI

NOTE: Since this program requires a substantial fund raising activity, it is recommended that each Center or unit (department or school) works with the IU Foundation prior to the internal competition.