Inspire! Grants for Small Museums 2025 – United States

Deadline: 15-Nov-24

Applicants are encouraged to apply for the Inspire! Grants for Small Museums.

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums (Inspire!) is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program. The Inspire! initiative supports small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, policy development and institutional planning, technology enhancements, professional development, community outreach, audience development, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation.

They expect Inspire! projects to focus on a key component of the museum’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.

Goal and Objectives

• Goal: Build the capacity of small museums to provide museum services to their communities.
  • Objective 1, Lifelong Learning Support the development of experiential, cross-disciplinary learning experiences in small museums.
  • Objective 2, Institutional Capacity Support the institutional capacity of small museums.
  • Objective 3, Collections Stewardship and Access Support the management and care of collections in small museums.

Funding Information

• Total amount of funding IMLS expects to award through this announcement: $3,000,000
• Expected amount of individual awards
  • Small Project: $5,000 – $25,000
  • Large Project: $25,001 – $75,000
• Anticipated number of awards: 75

Activities

• Projects may involve, but are not limited to, activities such as:
  • educational programming for all ages;
  • exhibition development, design, fabrication, and interpretation;
  • digital media and technology enhancements;
  • institutional planning and policy development;
  • professional training, internships, and mentorships;
  • collections information management, research, and planning;
  • digitization and digital asset management; and
  • conservation surveys, treatments, and environmental improvements.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for an award under the Inspire! program, your organization must meet all three of the following eligibility criteria. Your organization must be:
  • a unit of State, local, or Tribal government; or
  • a private, nonprofit organization that has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended (you will need to include proof of this if applicable to your organization).
• Your organization must 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.
• Your organization must qualify as one of the following:
  • A museum that:
    • uses a professional staff;
    • is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes;
    • owns or uses tangible objects, including living collections;
    • cares for these objects; and
    • exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates.
• A museum located within a parent organization that is a State, local, or Tribal government or multipurpose nonprofit entity, such as a university, historical society, foundation, or cultural center, may apply on its own behalf if the museum:
  • can 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 parent organization.
• They may determine that a nonprofit organization affiliated with a museum is eligible for this program if:
  • its sole mission is to support the specified museum;
  • it has the ability to administer the project; and
  • it can ensure compliance with the terms of this Notice of Funding Opportunity and the applicable law, including the IMLS Assurances and Certifications.
• They require that you provide an agreement from the museum that details the activities the applicant and museum will perform and binds the museum to the statements and assurances in the application.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.