Deadline: 15-Nov-21
Museums Empowered Grant Program – a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program to support projects that use the transformative power of professional development and training to generate systemic change within museums of all types and sizes.
Projects are expected to involve multiple levels of staff, leadership, and volunteers in a set of logical, interrelated activities tied directly to addressing a key need or challenge; reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about professional development; and generate measurable results.
As a result, Museums Empowered 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
Museums Empowered has four program goals and two objectives associated with each goal. Each applicant should align their proposed project with one of these four goals and one or more of the associated objectives.
- Goal 1: Digital Technology: Provide museum staff with the skills to integrate digital technology into museum operations.
- Objective: Support staff learning and integration of digital communication platforms and social media tools to enhance audience engagement and community outreach.
- Objective: Support staff learning and integration of digital tools and services that enhance ac
- Goal 2: Diversity and Inclusion: Support museum staff in providing inclusive services to people of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds and to individuals with disabilities.
- Objective: Create training and learning opportunities that increase cultural competency of museum staff and enhance relevancy of museum programs.
- Objective: Develop and implement inclusive fellowship, internship, and mentoring programs to increase support for emerging professionals from diverse communities entering the museum field.
- Goal 3: Evaluation: Strengthen the ability of museum staff to use evaluation as a tool to shape museum programs and improve outcomes.
- Objective: Increase staff knowledge of program evaluation methods and the usefulness of evaluation reports, tools, data and metrics.
- Objective: Provide museum staff with the tools and strategies to adapt evaluation methods to address a specific audience or institutional need.
- Goal 4: Organizational Management: Strengthen and support museum staff as the essential part of a resilient organizational culture.
- Objective: Develop comprehensive organizational learning opportunities that address one or more emerging priorities facing a museum.
- Objective: Develop programs that address the specific learning and growth opportunities identified by staff needs assessment.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $3,800,000
- Award Ceiling: $250,000
- Award Floor: $5,000
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for an award under this Museums Empowered 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;
- 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;
- 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. Native American tribal organizations may apply if they otherwise meet the above eligibility requirements.
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 parent organization.
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.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=335329