Deadline: 10 June 2020
CA CARES: Humanities Recovery Grants will direct funds to capacity-building activities that will enable applicants to meet the needs of their communities and respond to current and longer-term challenges.
Recovery grants aim to strengthen the short and long-term capacity of California based humanities organizations to plan and deliver rich humanities-based learning experiences for the people of California in keeping with the mission to connect Californians to ideas and one another in order to understand the shared heritage and diverse cultures, inspire civic participation, and shape future.
In recognition of the serious impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the ability of many public humanities providers to carry out their work, this program will direct funds for capacity building activities that will enable applicants to meet the needs of their communities and respond to current and longer-term challenges.
Appropriate types of activities include but are not limited to:
- Technical assistance provided by experts (individuals or organizations) that will directly enhance public humanities programming capabilities
- Professional development activities that will directly impact the applicant’s programming capacity (acquisition of skills, knowledge, or expertise gained through training, coaching, or participation in humanities field learning experiences)
- Acquisition of materials, equipment or devices that will enhance the applicant’s existing public humanities programming capacity
- Research and data collection efforts that will provide information to enable the applicant to expand the reach of their humanities programming, engage and serve new audiences, and mitigate barriers to participation on the part of historically-underserved communities or groups (e.g. needs assessments)
- Communicative and collaborative activities that will promote partnership, networking, and leveraging the resources of multiple public humanities providers resulting in enhanced programming capacity
Recovery Grants are intended to support activities that will result in enhancement of public humanities programming capacity within the grant period; however public programming outputs within the grant period are not required. Activities that demonstrate potential for extension or amplification beyond the grant period are welcomed.
Recovery Grants Funds Are Not Intended to Support:
- General operations (GOS) or activities aimed at overall organizational capacity building without specific reference to programming capacity (e.g. fundraising, marketing, or institutional advancement).
- Public programming activities unrelated to the implementation of eligible capacitybuilding activities (requests for public programming support should be made through other grant programs).
- Capital improvements (other than purchase of equipment for public programming purposes).
- Creative or scholarly work by individual humanities practitioners including research, travel, stipends, or residencies.
- Regranting, sub-awards, scholarships, prizes, charitable donations, or gifts.
- Publication, dissemination, or production costs.
- Activities and projects primarily intended to advance a specific policy or political agenda or to influence legislation (advocacy).
- Curriculum enhancement, or classroom-focused activities that will not significantly enhance the public programming capacity of the applicant.
Funding Information
Applicants may request between $1,000 and $10,000, and the requested amount should not exceed more than 5% of the applicant’s current annual operating budget.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications will be accepted from California-based public agencies and California-based nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt status and a minimum two-year organizational history.
- Associations, groups, or organizations that do not have federal tax-exempt status, must apply under the auspices of an eligible fiscal sponsor.
- Applicants will be accepted from recognized humanities provider organizations (museum, library, archive, historical society, cultural center, public media outlets, humanities department or division of a K-12 educational institution or college or university) AND other organizations that can demonstrate a substantial track record of public humanities work within the past five years.
- Prior grant history with California Humanities is NOT required.
- Current California Humanities grantees (CDP, HFAP, HFAQ, LIL) are eligible to apply, as long as the activities supported by the Recovery grant will not directly overlap with those already supported through the current open grant.
For more information, visit https://calhum.org/funding-opportunities/ca-cares-humanities-relief-and-recovery-grants/#organizations