Editor's note: Please double check deadlines and availability.
IMLS Museum Funding Opportunities
Now through November 15, museums and related organizations across the U.S. have six opportunities to apply for grants from the nation’s primary source of federal funding for museum services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is now accepting applications for six grant programs:
• Inspire! Grants for Small Museums
• National Leadership Grants for Museums
• Museum Grants for African American History and Culture
• Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services
Museum Assessment Program
If your museum is looking to strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet standards, consider applying to participate in the one-year Museum Assessment Program (MAP). Find out which of the five MAP assessment types is right for your museum, and check out our new Insider's Guide to MAP video! Applyby February 1, 2023.
National Trust Offers Preservation Grants
Grants from National Trust Preservation Funds (NTPF) are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by providing seed money for preservation projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for particular projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector. A small grant at the right time can go a long way and is often the catalyst that inspires a community to take action on a preservation project. Deadline: October 3, 2022.
National Trust for Historic Preservation Emergency Funds
Intervention funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation is awarded in emergency situations when immediate and unanticipated work is needed to save a historic structure, such as when a fire or other natural disaster strikes. Funding is restricted to nonprofit organizations and public agencies. Emergency grants typically range from $1,000 to $5,000, but unlike the majority of our grant funding, a cash match is not required for intervention projects. Contact the NTHP if you believe your project qualifies for this type of funding. Funding is very limited.
Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants
The purpose of this NEH program is to strengthen the institutional base of the humanities by enabling infrastructure development and capacity building. Awards of federal matching funds aim to help institutions secure long-term support for their core activities and expand efforts to preserve and create access to outstanding humanities materials. The program supports both Capital and Digital Infrastructure projects. The deadline has been extended to October 5, 2022. Visit the NEH website for more details and application materials.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Nonprofit employees and other eligible borrowers have until October 31 to take advantage of the Limited Waiver for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which provides for forgiveness of eligible federal loans after 120 eligible payments while working for 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits and government employers. Check your eligibility using the PSLF Help Tool and watch a recording of the recent PSLF Coalition webinar, conducted in partnership with AAM.
Commemorating America’s Semiquincentennial
The United States will commemorate its 250th (or “Semiquincentennial”) anniversary in 2026. Our friends at AASLH are monitoring national, regional, and state commemoration plans at https://aaslh.org/programs/250th/. A Massachusetts based group, Revolution 250, operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Massachusetts Historical Society with 30+ partners. In Vermont's there is the 250th Anniversary Commission.
Ask Legislators to support the OMS
Urge your legislators to support the Office of Museum Services and include a $20 million increase for improving museum and library facilities. It takes just a few clicks to personalize and send your message in support of funding for OMS.
Funding for Programs on American Art
Recognizing current and historical inequities in the presentations and understandings of American art history, the Terra Foundation encourages convenings that address these imbalances and exclusions at institutions worldwide. Convening Grants are available for programs that foster exchange and collaboration, such as workshops, symposia, and colloquia. Programs should advance innovative and experimental research and professional practice in American art and address critical issues facing the field. We also welcome requests for convenings intended to inform projects in their early stages, which will benefit from the learning and practice that can be developed through dialogue. Convening grants are typically between $10,000 and $25,000. For Summer 2023 programs, initial letter of inquiry is due December 9, 2022.
African American Civil Rights Grant Program
The National Park Service announces availability of grant funding through African American Civil Rights Grant Program (AACR). The program will document, interpret, and preserve sites and stories telling the full story of the long struggle for African American civil rights from the transatlantic slave trade onwards across two separate grant funding opportunities. The NPS 2008 report, Civil Rights in America, A Framework for Identifying Significant Sites, will serve as the reference document in determining the appropriateness of proposed projects and properties. Applications are due November 8, 2022.
CT Humanities Grants
Quick Grants award up to $4,999 to help organizations create small-scale humanities programs that have big impacts on their communities. Upcoming deadlines are October 7 and December 2, 2022.
Each of the following grants has a fall application deadline of November 4, 2022:
Planning Grants of up to $25,000 support the research, planning, and development of humanities projects, such as exhibitions, public programs, and interpretive digital media. They help organizations conduct scholarly research and travel, gather feedback from key stakeholders, and make all the necessary preparations to develop, finalize, and implement their project plan.
Implementation Grants support the execution of humanities projects, such as exhibitions, public programs, and interpretive digital media projects. The implementation stage is intended for projects that are ready to bring to fruition.
Capacity Grants help Connecticut organizations that bring humanities to the public think strategically, better understand their audiences, assets, and operations, and plan for the future. They support a range of consultant-led projects such as board training, strategic planning and audience assessments.
CT Cultural Fund Operating Support grants are non-competitive General Operating Support grants of up to $500,000, for museums and 501(c)(3) non-profit, municipal, Connecticut state, or Connecticut-based federally or State recognized tribal organizations that provide cultural-, humanities-, and arts-based projects and activities for the public These grants are designed to help the state’s museums, cultural, humanities, and arts organizations maintain and grow their ability to serve their community and the public, connect K-12 teachers and students to strong humanities and arts content, and improve their information technology and digital infrastructure.
Connecticut Historic Restoration Fund Grants
Historic Restoration Fund (HRF) Grants are funded by the Community Investment Act, which provides increased funding for historic preservation as well as open space, farmland preservation, and affordable housing. This program is intended to offer maintenance and repair funding to non-profit 501c3 and 501c13 and municipally owned buildings listed on the State or National Register of Historic Places. Rehabilitation projects must be directly attributed to the long-term preservation of historic building fabric and character defining features. Upcoming deadline is December 2, 2022.
ME Humanities Grants
Arts & Humanities grants, a partnership between the MHC and the Maine Arts Commission, support innovative community projects that have both arts and humanities components. Awards are up to $1000, the deadline is October 24, 2022.
MCC Cultural Sector Recovery Grants
Mass Cultural Council will make a historic level of funding into the state’s cultural sector in FY23 through new, one-time COVID relief programs. Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations offer unrestricted grants ranging from $5,000-$75,000 to Massachusetts cultural organizations, collectives, and businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Awards range from $5,000 to $75,000. Deadline is September 28, 2022.
Massachusetts Roving Archivist and Archival Supplies
Through generous funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the Massachusetts Archives is pleased to provide funding for the Roving Archivist program and funding for the purchase of supplies and materials needed to arrange, describe, preserve, and make accessible archival collections.
Public Art Funding for Massachusetts Communities
The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) is offering two grant programs for Massachusetts-based artists and organizations working to create public art that explores spatial justice and creatively expresses and embodies a more just version of what’s possible in public.
Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice grants support teams of Massachusetts-based artists, creatives, culture bearers, cultural organizers, and community-based organizational collaborators, to do the work of imagining what public art that fosters positive social change looks, sounds and feels like in their community. This is a six-month planning grant, for the period of January through June 2023. Collective Imagination Teams will be selected to participate in a cohort learning model and receive a $6,000 grant.
Those ready to fund a specific project may apply for the Public Art for Spatial Justice Grant. Projects must take place in Massachusetts and creatively cultivate expressions or embodiments of spatial justice through public artmaking. All artistic disciplines are welcomed to apply. Starting in 2022: Public Art for Spatial Justice grants range from $15,000-$30,000, for up to two-year grant period beginning in January 2023.
The deadline for both grants is October 17, 2022.
New Hampshire Community Project Grants
New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) awards two types of Community Project Grants. Mini Grants offer up to $2,000 to support simple, single-event or short-series projects, and are available in as little as six weeks from submission. Mini grants are 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: December 15, 2022.
A More Perfect Union
The New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) has announced New Hampshire Humanities Special Initiative "A More Perfect Union,” supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation. Through their Perspectives Book Groups participants engage with diverse perspectives in the humanities through literature to build understanding and empathy, and to support a culture of reading in the Granite State. Easy to book and coordinate, Perspectives offers facilitated group book discussions in virtual or in-person settings, and welcomes applications from all NH libraries, established book groups, or community organizations. NHH provides expert facilitators and free copies of books. Complete the online application at least four weeks prior to the event, or email bookgroups@nhhumanities.org with any questions.
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities
The Major Grant Program, for requests over $2,000, invites nonprofit organizations and schools to apply for funding in support of public projects, documentary films, and civic education initiatives beginning after April 1, 2023. Letters of intent to apply must be submitted via the grantmaking portal by November 1, 2022.
RISCA Project Grants in Education
The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts’s (RISCA) Project Grants in Education (PGE) program provides project-specific support to schools, non-profit organizations, arts educators, and teaching artists to engage students in rich and meaningful artistic experiences in dedicated learning environments. PGE projects must be experiential and focus on the exploration of art and the artistic process. PGE strives to build the capacity of local teaching artists and nonprofit organizations, while providing students with high-quality artistic learning experiences. Awards range from $1,000 to $10,000. The next deadline is October 3, 2022.
RI Expansion Arts Program
Supported by a collaboration between Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA), and Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH), the Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) offers funding and organizational assistance to community-based, culturally diverse arts and cultural organizations. It supports small organizations whose programs and missions center on the cultural practices and traditions of Rhode Island’s diverse peoples. RIEAP provides the skills and tools these organizations need to grow as equal partners in the Rhode Island arts and cultural community. Priority is given to newly-emerging groups and those with little history of grant funding. In seeking to build the capacity of these organizations, RIEAP recognizes the broader role they play in strengthening their communities including cultural preservation, education, and youth development.
Funding fosters greater connections across the arts and humanities and provides leadership and professional development for a broader network of RIEAP-eligible arts and cultural organizations. Grants are $10,000 each year for three years. Deadline: October 14, 2022.
VT Arts Council Creative Aging Grants
The Vermont Arts Council is offering Creative Aging Grants to support skill-based instruction alongside opportunities for social engagement and community building in and through the arts for older adults. Applicants to the Creative Aging grant program are non-profits with 501(c)(3) status, such as arts organizations, area agencies on aging, or social service organizations for example.
Organizations may apply for up to $4,000 to support activities designed for older adults aged 60+ led by experienced teaching artists. Priority is given to projects led by Vermont artists. Deadline: November 1, 2022.
VT Humanities Project Grants
Vermont Humanities’ traditional Project Grants support nonprofit organizations offering Vermont audiences an opportunity to engage with the humanities in their communities. This grant funds community projects and curriculum development. Awards range from $1,000 to $5,000. Deadline is October 15, 2022.
Rapid Response Grants
Established in 2020, Vermont Humanities’ Rapid Response Grants are quick turn-around small grants for humanities-focused community projects. Rapid Response Grants can be up to $1,000. Applications are reviewed monthly. If you submit your application by the first of the month, you will be notified of the award decision by the 15th of the same month.
Vermont Nonprofit Capacity Building Grant
In response to this gap in the resources needed to strengthen organizations, particularly those with operating budgets of $500,000 or less, the Vermont Community Foundation has created Vermont Nonprofit Capacity Building grants to help. The application is designed to be easy to complete and notification is within 6-8 weeks. They welcome applications to support your organization’s planning needs around achieving your mission, through strategic planning, merger conversations, or similar efforts.
Grants will be no more than $5,000 each and will support the cost of consultants for activities such as strategic planning, merger explorations, financial sustainability planning, and other consultant services that relate directly to how you might achieve your mission. Grants are up to $5,000. These grants are meant to supplement other funding, and may be used as challenge grants to secure additional funds. Deadline: Rolling deadline.