Deadline: 15-Nov-21
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has launched Grants for Small Museums to support small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation.
Inspire! Grants for Small Museums is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program. Projects are expected to focus on a key goal identified in the institution’s strategic plan, reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter, and generate measurable results that tie directly to the need or challenge addressed.
As a result, Inspire! Grants for Small Museums has significant potential to generate positive societal impact through project activities undertaken as part of the grant-funded work and activities that may be complementary to the project.
Goals and Objectives
Inspire! Grants for Small Museums has three program goals with three objectives associated with each goal. Each applicant should align their proposed project with one of these three goals and one or more of the associated objectives.
- Goal 1: Lifelong Learning: Empower people of all ages and backgrounds through experiential and cross-disciplinary learning and discovery.
- Objective: Support public programs, adult programs, family programs, and early childhood programs.
- Objective: Support exhibitions, interpretation, and digital media.
- Objective: Support in-school and out-of-school programs.
- Goal 2: Institutional Capacity: Build the capacity of small museums to serve their communities.
- Objective : Support institutional planning and policy development.
- Objective: Support recruitment, training, and development of museum staff.
- Objective 2.3: Support technology enhancements.
- Goal 3: Collections Stewardship and Access: Advance the management and care of collections and their associated documentation.
- Objective : Support cataloging, inventorying, and registration; collections information management; and collections planning.
- Objective : Support conservation and environmental improvement and/or rehousing; conservation surveys; and conservation treatment.
- Objective: Support database management, digital asset management, and digitization.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $2,700,000
- Award Ceiling: $50,000
- Award Floor: $5,000
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for an award under this Inspire! Grants for Small Museums Notice of Funding Opportunity, your organization must meet all three of the following criteria:
- Must be either a unit of State, local, or tribal government or be a private, nonprofit organization that has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code;
- 2Must be located in one of the 50 States of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau;
- Must qualify as one of the following:
- A museum that, using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates.
- An organization or association that engages in activities designed to advance the wellbeing of museums and the museum profession.
Eligibility of Museums Located within a Parent Organization
- A museum located within a parent organization that is a State, local, or tribal government or multipurpose nonprofit entity, such as a municipality, university, historical society, foundation, or cultural center, may apply on its own behalf if the museum:
- is able to independently fulfill all the eligibility requirements listed in the above three criteria;
- functions as a discrete unit within the parent organization;
- has its own fully segregated and itemized operating budget; and
- has the authority to make the application on its own.
- When any of the last three conditions cannot be met, a museum may only apply through its parentorganization.
Eligibility of Nonprofit Organization Affiliated with a Museum
- IMLS may determine that a nonprofit organization that is affiliated with a museum is eligible for this program where the organization can demonstrate that it has the ability to administer the project and can ensure compliance with the terms of this Notice of Funding Opportunity and the applicable law, including the IMLS Assurances and Certifications.
- The applicant organization must submit an agreement from the museum that details the activities that the applicant and museum will perform and binds the museum to the statements and assurances made in the grant application.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=335306
