Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan Grant Program (US)

Deadline: 11-Oct-21

The Humanities DC is pleased to launch Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan Grant Program (SHARP) to provide funds to nonprofit organizations in need and to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the coronavirus.

These grants provide general operating support to non-profit cultural organizations, working in the public humanities field, that are facing immediate economic challenges related to the corona virus pandemic.

Priorities for awarding the funds will be: helping organizations continue their existing or planned public humanities programs by retaining staff and maintaining their financial obligations

Themes or Activities

A humanities organization has a mission explicitly connected to the humanities along with a track record of specifically working in the humanities, as opposed to a group that occasionally tackles or delves into humanities-based themes or activities. These include:

Cultural and Ethnic Organizations: This category includes organizations dedicated to the study, preservation, and/or dissemination of the history and culture of ethnic groups.
History Organizations: This category includes historical societies and their support organizations, historical preservation groups and their support organizations, historic houses, folklore/folk life organizations, place-based learning organizations, cultural sustainability organizations, and other organizations with a historical focus.
Humanities Museums: This category includes organizations that acquire, preserve, research, exhibit, and provide for the educational use of works of art or objects/artifacts that are related to the study of humanities content.
Literature Organizations: This category includes organizations that promote the study or appreciation of books and/or literature.
Humanities Education: Organizations that offer classes, seminar, and workshops in the humanities (which include but are not limited to literature, languages, history, philosophy, religious studies, art history, and interdisciplinary humanities programs – like ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, and American studies). Literacy programs and English-language acquisition (ELL/ESL) programs are also eligible in this category.
Media, Journalism, and Documentary Organizations: Organizations that are committed to covering humanities themes and/or telling the stories, happenings, or histories of communities that are informed by the members of those communities, challenge predominant narratives, and/or nurture critical analysis of media.
Libraries and Archives: These organizations include operating libraries and archives (excluding those that are purely science-and medicine-focused). Combination museum-libraries can be treated as museums or libraries.

Funding Information

For general operating support, these awards will allow for organizations to continue their existing or planned public humanities programs by retaining staff and maintaining their financial obligations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are the maximum available award amounts listed by the organizational budget:
- Up to $20,000 for organizations with budgets of $300,000 or below (averaged over the last three years)
- Up to $30,000 for organizations with budgets between $300,000 and $1,000,000 (averaged over the last three years)
- Up to $40,000 for organizations with budgets over $1,000,000 (averaged over the last three years)
Applicants may receive only one grant from this program in this fiscal year.

What are they looking for?

Description of the organization’s central activities, with emphasis on its typical humanities programming.
Estimate of how much income the organization has lost as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Description of the public humanities programming lost or threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic and other impacts the pandemic has had on the organization.
Explanation of how the organization plans to continue or alter that programming and/or a description of alternative public humanities programming the organization will produce.
Description of how the funds would be used should a grant be awarded.

Eligibility Criteria

Must be a federally incorporated 501c3 non-profit organization.
Must be registered with, and authorized to do business in, the District as either a “Domestic” entity (that is, an entity that was incorporated in the District) or a “Foreign” entity (that is, an entity that was incorporated in another state).
Must register and comply with the regulatory requirements of the following agencies:
- District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA)–Corporations Division (indicating an “active” business license status at the time of application and agreeing to maintain such status throughout the grant period).
- District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR).
- District of Columbia Department of Employment Services (DOES).
- United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Must be able to obtain a certification of “Citywide Clean Hands” (CCH) from the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue.
Must be an organization which, as a core part of its mission, produces public programs in the Humanities, as defined here by the amended National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965:
- The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting the diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.
Must be an organization for which Washington, DC residents comprise the majority of its constituents.
Must have a principal business office address that is located in the District of Columbia and is accessible to onsite review. Post office boxes will not be accepted.
Must be in good standing with Humanities DC. Applicants with outstanding or delinquent reports or final products from previous Humanities DC grants must submit them completed and without deficiencies at least 30 days before the deadline for which they wish to apply.
Prohibited applicants include: private clubs and organizations that prohibit membership based upon race, gender, color, religion, or any other classes identified in the District of Columbia Human Rights Act; for-profit (commercial) entities; political organizations; organizations whose primary focus is in the performing or visual arts organizations with no paid staff; universities; foreign governments; federal government entities; organizations receiving significant federal funding; and District of Columbia government agencies.
Must have a valid DUNS number. Organizations do not need to have a DUNS number to submit an application, but will not be able to receive funding until one is obtained.