Editor's note: Please double check deadlines and availability.
IRS Form 1023 and Form 1023-EZ
The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comments from the public on potential revisions to nearly six dozen IRS forms, including the Form 1023 and Form 1023-EZ applications for tax-exempt status and the Form 990 informational tax return and various schedules. In particular, the IRS is seeking input on, among other things, whether the collection of information is necessary and has practical utility; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Learn more here. Public comments are due January 11, 2021.
New Hampshire Annual Report
2020 is a reporting year for the NH Secretary of State so make sure to get your nonprofit report in before the December 31 deadline. You can see if you've already filed by searching for your organization on QuickStart and checking your "Filing History". If you still need to file, more information about filing online—including the "one click" option for organizations with no changes to report—or requesting a paper form can be found on the NH Secretary of State's website.
Museum Assessment Program (MAP)
The Museum Assessment Program is supported through a cooperative agreement between the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the American Alliance of Museums. It is designed to help museums assess their strengths and weaknesses, and plan for the future. A MAP assessment requires members of the museum staff and governing authority to complete a self-study. After completion of the self-study, a site visit is conducted by one or more museum professionals, who tour the museum and meet with staff, governing officials, and volunteers. The reviewers work with the museum and MAP staff to produce a report evaluating the museum's operations, making recommendations, and suggesting resources. Deadline: February 1, 2021.
2020 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers Enrollment
The American Alliance of Museums is partnering with Wilkening Consulting on the 2021 Annual Survey of Museum-Goers. Participating in the survey provides data that can be used to take immediate action and make decisions that contribute to the sustainability and vibrancy of your museum. The participation fee for 2021 is $1,000.00 for museums launching by February 28, 2021. To enroll your museum, click here.
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections
NEH’s Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (SCHC) program helps cultural institutions meet the complex challenge of preserving large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations by supporting sustainable conservation measures that mitigate deterioration, prolong the useful life of collections, and support institutional resilience: the ability to anticipate and respond to natural and man-made disasters. The next cycle’s application becomes available November 15, 2019 with a deadline of January 11, 2021.
Public Humanities Projects
NEH’s Public Humanities Projects program supports projects that bring the ideas and insights of the humanities to life for general audiences through in-person programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history. Public Humanities Projects supports projects in three program categories (Exhibitions, Historic Places, and Humanities Discussions), and at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). Regardless of proposed activity, NEH encourages applicants to explore humanities ideas through multiple formats. Deadline is January 6, 2021.
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions
NEH's 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. Deadline is January 14, 2021.
Landmarks of American History and Culture
NEH's Landmarks of American History and Culture program supports a series of one-week workshops for K-12 educators across the nation to enhance and strengthen humanities teaching at the K-12 level. The program defines a landmark as a site of historic importance within the United States and its territories. Landmarks could include historic homes, museums, presidential libraries, and sites memorializing literary, artistic, or architectural achievements. Projects could take place in public spaces and neighborhoods, major waterways, national parks, or other locations of historic importance. Deadline is February 11, 2021.
Archives Collaboration Grants
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives supports seeks projects that will make collections from small and under-represented archives more readily available for public discovery and use. The grant program will fund Archives Collaboratives to share best practices, tools, and techniques; assess institutional strengths and opportunities; and promote management structures for long-term sustainability and growth. Draft deadline: April 1, 2021. Final deadline: June 9, 2021.
Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund
The MassDevelopment Board of Directors has approved the launch of the 2021 Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF) grant round, a state program that provides capital and planning grants to nonprofits, colleges, and municipalities that own or operate facilities primarily focused on the arts, humanities, and sciences. CFF awards invest in the acquisition, design, repair, renovation, expansion, and construction of nonprofit and municipal cultural facilities. Applications for the 2021 CFF grant round are due Friday, January 15, 2021 at 11:59pm (ET).
Maine Humanities Council Grants
The Maine Humanities Council Major Grant program distributes funding to non-profit organizations in Maine for larger humanities programs and projects – things like exhibits, films, conferences, initiatives – that have broad public outreach. New application forms. Deadline: January 31, 2021.
Arts & Humanities Grants
The Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Humanities Council collaborate to provide Arts & Humanities grants that assist organizations in Maine to investigate and present stories and cultural expressions of the state, its communities and its people. Application deadline is March 25, 2021.
Arts Learning Grant
The Maine Arts Council’s Arts Learning Grant provides funding to support schools and organizations to enhance PK-12 arts education. This can be done through teaching artist programs, community arts education programs, curriculum planning, professional learning for arts educators, and teaching artists and teachers of all content. Applicants are encouraged to use teaching artists from the Maine Arts Commission’s Teaching Artist Roster. Application deadline is March 25, 2021.
Creative Communities = Economic Development
The Maine Arts Council’s The Creative Communities = Economic Development: Planning Grant (CCED Phase 1) provides communities or regions funds to assess their cultural assets (and needs) and create a Cultural Plan. Please note that this grant is for a community Creative Plan and is not intended for individual organizational planning. A completed Cultural Plan is required in order for a community or region to apply for the CCED Phase II: Implementation Grant. Application deadline is March 25, 2021.
Community Building Grant Program
The Community Building Grant Program at the Maine Community Foundation invests in local projects and organizations working to build strong communities in the state. It is a grassroots grant program focused on efforts to use, improve, and/or increase access to community assets. These community assets include natural and built resources, as well as community members, their views and voices, local leaders, and the relationships or connections among people and organizations across the community. For the 2021 grant cycle, the focus of the program will be on building community resilience in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program two types of grants: Project Grants for new, expanding, or ongoing projects (including changes) in response to COVID-19; Capacity-building Grants for activities that will make the organization stronger, more efficient, or more effective in its response to the pandemic. The application period opened November 13, 2020, and will close February 15, 2021 at 11:59.
New Hampshire Community Project Grants
New Hampshire Humanities Council awards two types of Community Project Grants. Mini Grants offer up to $1,000 to support simple, single-event or short-series projects, and are available on a rolling basis. Major Grants of up to $10,000 enable organizations to design and carry out larger projects that attract diverse audiences, engage minds, and stimulate meaningful community dialogue. Draft proposal deadline: March 15, 2021 with a final application of April 14, 2021.
Rhode Island Mini Grant Program
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities' Mini Grant Program for requests up to $2,000 invites individual researchers, nonprofit organizations, and schools to apply for funding in support of public humanities projects. Deadline: February 1, 2021.
XIX: Shall Not Be Denied: Why It Matters Initiative
The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities has been awarded $50,000 as part of the nationwide “Why it Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation” initiative, administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This electoral initiative will build on the existing statewide civic engagement platform XIX: Shall Not Be Denied, which has successfully partnered with over 30 organizations in the past year to catalyze community awareness of the centennial of the 19th Amendment. The XIX: Shall Not Be Denied: Why It Matters Initiative is designed to rapidly deploy resources to organizations delivering accessible, relevant, inclusive, empowering, and diverse programs that connect communities to trusted information about the democratic process and engage with historical and cultural knowledge to provide context for ongoing efforts to increase participation. A request for proposals (RFP) will be announced in December. A detailed RFP will be posted on the Humanities Council website soon.
Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant
The Preservation Trust of Vermont is pleased to announce the opening of the 2020 Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grant round. This project is supported through a grant from the Historic Revitalization Subgrant Program (Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants) as administered by the National Park Service Department of the Interior. PTV has $625,000 available to preserve and restore buildings and community gathering spaces of economic and social significance in rural communities. Examples of work we support include roof repair or replacement, structural repairs, window and door restoration, and fire safety improvements. Grants will be made in increments of $50,000-$100,000. Applications will be evaluated by Preservation Trust of Vermont staff. Selection will be made based on regional distribution, variety of project type, community and economic development potential and the capacity of the active, local working group. The deadline for submitting applications has been extended and is now January 15, 2021.
The Paper Project
In January 2018, the Getty Foundation launched The Paper Project: Prints and Drawings Curatorship in the 21st Century. This international initiative supports training and professional development for early- to mid-career curators of prints and drawings. The Paper Project helps curators navigate the demands of the 21st-century museum, both by preserving traditional skills that have been passed down through generations of specialists and by supporting curators' efforts to make graphic arts collections accessible and relevant to today's audiences. The maximum award will be $100,000; most grant awards will be $25,000-$100,000. Intent to apply deadline is January 22, 2021 and full application is February 15, 2021.