Updated July 2015
INSTITUTIONAL GRANT OPPORTUNITIES OPEN TO FACULTY
IN THE HUMANITIES
This list is intended for your planning purposes. It is our hope that it will help you to determine which external
agencies might fund your project. This document lists fellowships for individual work that require institutional
sign-off as well as institutional grants. All such applications, whether for a fellowship or a grant, must be
submitted through the University of Kansas Center for Research (KUCR).
To navigate, keep this document in layout view, scroll to the table of contents, then click on the page number of
the agency or program in which you’re interested. This will take you directly to that entry. If you then wish to
learn more, click on the agency’s website address (URL). If clicking doesn’t work, copy the URL, paste it into
the address line of your web browser, and type return. Some agencies had not updated their websites at the time
this document was compiled, so do check the agency websites and read application instructions carefully.
Applicants must make a firm commitment of their time and focus in order to develop competitive external
funding proposals. Because most agencies have deadlines only once each year and take from three to eight
months to announce awards, this requires long-term planning. While a simple individual fellowship or small
grant application can be prepared in four to six weeks, that is not the case for institutional grant proposals.
Because of the complexity of such applications, the frequent need to interface with agency program officers, and
the necessity for institutional approval and submission it is critical to begin working on them a minimum of four
months and preferably six months prior to the agency's deadline in order to compete successfully. If you have
collaborators, especially at other institutions, extend your grant proposal development timeline to accommodate
the interfaces and required agreements between institutions and among collaborators. Federal agencies typically
post guidelines only six to eight weeks before the deadline. In such cases, you can work from the previous year's
guidelines and aim for the last known deadline, then tweak materials as may be necessary after the agency posts
new instructions. HGDO staff will be glad to talk with you about your research funding strategies and help you
create your proposal development timeline, as well as work with you to develop and submit your external
applications, whether directly or through KUCR.
As you plan, please keep in mind that the internal deadline to submit all final materials to the HGDO is five
(5) working days prior to the agency’s deadline. If requesting a full review and comments, the deadline to
submit final drafts is ten (10) working days prior to the agency's deadline. To take full advantage our services,
you need to begin working with us on fellowships a minimum of four weeks prior to the agency's deadline. The
timeline for institutional grants is much longer, as noted above. KUCR also has an internal deadline of five (5)
working days for all final application materials. HGDO can serve as your interface with KUCR, if you begin
working with us early enough to allow us to provide this service.
This list is not exhaustive. If you know of other sources, please let us know. If you find nothing here that might
help you, go to http://pivot.cos.com and conduct a search specific to your needs. Access to this online database
is free to KU scholars (including students) courtesy of KUCR and offers the most comprehensive and
dependable compilation of funding opportunities currently available. You can access it from any KU computer
or, if KU is your service provider, from your computer at home.
Humanities Grant Development Office
Hall Center for the Humanities
Kathy Porsch, Research Development Officer: kporsch@ku.edu • 785/864-7834
Bobbi Rahder, Research Development Specialist: brahder@ku.edu • 785/864-7833
Graduate Assistant Research Development Specialists: hgdo@ku.edu • 785/864-7887
http://hallcenter.ku.edu/humanities-grant-development-office
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTITUTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCHOLARS IN THE HUMANITIES ............................................................... 1
ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION ......................................................................................................................... 1
Program on Digital Information Technology ................................................................................................. 1
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES (ACLS) ...................................................................................... 1
Collaborative Research Awards...................................................................................................................... 1
ANDREW W. MELLON PROGRAM ........................................................................................................................ 1
Scholarly Communications and Information Technology ............................................................................... 1
COUNCIL ON LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES ..................................................................................... 2
Digitizing Hidden Collections and Archives: Enabling New Scholarship Through Increasing Access to
Unique Materials ............................................................................................................................................ 2
EMC HERITAGE TRUST PROJECT ........................................................................................................................ 2
Information Heritage Initiative ....................................................................................................................... 2
FORD FOUNDATION ............................................................................................................................................. 2
KANSAS HUMANITIES COUNCIL .......................................................................................................................... 2
Heritage Grants, Humanities Grants .............................................................................................................. 2
MACARTHUR FOUNDATION ................................................................................................................................ 3
Digital Media & Learning Grant .................................................................................................................... 3
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES ................................................................................................. 3
Bridging Cultures through Film: International Topics ................................................................................... 3
Collaborative Research Grants ....................................................................................................................... 3
Digital Humanities Implementation Grants .................................................................................................... 3
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants ............................................................................................................... 4
Digital Projects for the Public ........................................................................................................................ 4
Documenting Endangered Languages ............................................................................................................ 5
Enduring Questions ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Humanities Collections and Reference Resources .......................................................................................... 5
Humanities in the Public Square ..................................................................................................................... 6
Humanities Open Book Program .................................................................................................................... 6
Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities .............................................................................. 6
Landmarks of American History and Culture: Workshops for School Teachers ............................................ 7
Media Projects: Development and Production Grants ................................................................................... 7
Museums, Libraries, and Cultural Organizations Grants .............................................................................. 8
National Digital Newspaper Program ............................................................................................................ 8
Preservation and Access ................................................................................................................................. 8
Research and Development ............................................................................................................................. 9
Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants ................................................................................................... 9
Summer Seminars and Institutes ..................................................................................................................... 9
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections ....................................................................................................... 9
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................ 10
Digital Dissemination of Archival Collections ............................................................................................. 10
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) ......................................................................................................... 10
Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies ....................................................................................... 10
Software Development for Cyberinfrastructure (SDIC) ............................................................................... 11
Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2)................................................................................. 11
Research Coordination Networks (RCN) ...................................................................................................... 11
THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION................................................................................................. 11
THE JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION ............................................................................................................... 12
THE LUMINA FOUNDATION ............................................................................................................................... 12
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION ................................................ 12
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Programs................................................ 12
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Institutional Opportunities for Scholars in the Humanities
Note: All institutional proposals must be submitted through the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.
(KUCR). Both KUCR and HGDO require submission of all final (ready to submit) materials at least five (5)
working days before the application deadline. If you would like the HGDO staff to review and provide
comments on your proposal components prior to submission to KUCR, please submit your final draft
documents at least ten (10) working days before the agency deadline.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Program on Digital Information Technology
This program seeks to better our understanding of the relationship between technology, information, and
society, primarily through research on and the development of digital information technology for the
conduct of scholarly research and public engagement with knowledge. Grantmaking focuses on:
1) Data and Computational Research--grants related to how information technology enables new forms
of data-intensive research. Grants help researchers develop tools, establish norms, and build the
institutional and social infrastructure needed to take full advance of developments in data-driven,
computation-intensive research.
2) Scholarly Communication--grants related to how information technology may change the
dissemination and evaluation of scholarship. These grants aim to ease the transition to digitally
mediated forms of scholarship by supporting the development of new models of filtering and curating
online scholarly materials and by engaging the emerging community of stakeholders and practitioners
tackling similar issues in widely divergent disciplinary contexts.
3) Universal Access to Knowledge--grants related to digitizing knowledge and increasing access to that
knowledge. These grants facilitate the openness and accessibility of all knowledge in the digital age
for the widest public benefit under reasonable financial terms and conditions.
URL: http://www.sloan.org/major-program-areas/digital-information-technology/
Deadline: Submit a letter of inquiry to the appropriate program officer. The Sloan Foundation does
not accept unsolicited grant proposals.
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
Collaborative Research Awards
The aim of this fellowship program is to offer small teams of two or more scholars the opportunity to
collaborate intensively on a single, substantive project. The fellowship supports projects that produce a
tangible research product (such as joint print or web publications) for which two or more collaborators
will take credit. The award is for a total period of up to 24 months. The award includes stipends to allow
up to an academic year’s leave from teaching for participants, as well as up to $20,000 in collaboration
costs to facilitate face-to-face virtual interactions. Awards amounts will range from up to $60,000 based
on academic rank in salary replacement for each collaborator, depending on the nature and duration of the
collaboration, the kinds of expenses projected to carry out the research, and the number of participants.
URL: http://www.acls.org/grants/Default.aspx?id=3154&linkidentifier=id&itemid=3154
Deadline: September 23
Andrew W. Mellon Program
Scholarly Communications and Information Technology
This program assists research libraries, archives, museums, universities, presses, and arts organizations
that seek to use technologies that have the potential to expand and equalize access to cultural and
scholarly resources across sectors of society. Grants support the creation, dissemination, use, and
preservation of original sources, interpretive scholarship in the humanities, and other scholarly and artistic
materials.
URL: https://mellon.org/programs/scholarly-communications/inquiries-and-guidelines/
Deadline: Send a letter of inquiry to sc@mellon.org. (Only institutional grants not individual)
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Council on Library and Information Resources
Digitizing Hidden Collections and Archives: Enabling New Scholarship Through Increasing Access to
Unique Materials
This program funds projects in which locally executed protocols contribute to a national good, using
methods that are cost efficient and subject to wider adoption. It supports the creation of digital
representations of unique content of high scholarly significance that will be discoverable and usable as
elements of a coherent national collection. Awards are from $50,000-$250,000, and $500,000 for
collaborative projects. Time period is for 12 months.
URL: http://www.clir.org/hiddencollections/about-the-program
Deadline: September 30
EMC Heritage Trust Project
Information Heritage Initiative
The EMC Heritage Trust Project recognizes and supports digital stewardship of the world's information
heritage in local communities. Using the same criteria for excellence that guide the EMC Information
Heritage Initiative, EMC seeks people and projects that practice and inspire stewardship locally. Three
cash grants are awarded in the amounts of $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000. Award recipients are selected on
the following criteria: potential size of the audience that would benefit from access to this information,
the at-risk status of the information and why it is urgent to digitize it, and how beneficial the EMC grant
would be to the project. Projects may include applications from local libraries, museums, or historical
society collections; significant private collections of music, letters, or art; or archives and records of local
cultural or educational institutions and businesses.
URL: http://www.emc.com/leadership/articles/emc-heritage-trust-project.htm
Deadline: March 31. Humanities grants of over $3,500 are due February, May, and September
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation offers grants to institutions in the following areas of interest: Democratic and
Accountable Government, Human Rights, Social Justice and Philanthropy, Economic Fairness,
Metropolitan Opportunity, Sustainable Development, Educational Opportunity and Scholarship, Freedom
of Expression, and Sexuality and Reproductive Health Rights. Interested applicants are asked to submit an
online grant inquiry. Large-scale, sustainable, collaborative projects are encouraged by the foundation.
The Foundation also offers the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs to increase the diversity of the
nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the
educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity
as a resource to enriching the education of all students.
URL: http://www.fordfoundation.org/
Deadline: Rolling--start with a Grant Inquiry
Kansas Humanities Council
Heritage Grants, Humanities Grants
The Kansas Humanities Council is looking for partners across the state that have creative ideas for
sharing the humanities with their own community. This could be projects like a short film, museum
exhibition, a plan to preserve a collection of historic photographs or quilts, a series of podcasts, or even an
oral history project to capture the voices from a community's past. Heritage Grants of up to $3,500
support preservation and interpretive projects. Humanities Grants of up to $10,000 fund projects such as
humanities public programs, museum exhibitions, film and book discussion, the creation of short
documentary films, full-length film documentaries, media projects, and other creative activities.
URL: http://kansashumanities.org/kansas-grants/
Deadlines: Rolling deadline for Heritage Grants
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MacArthur Foundation
Digital Media & Learning Grant
Grants focus on establishing a new approach to learning research and design experimentation. Foundation
funded research includes ethnographic studies, surveys, interdisciplinary research networks--one on youth
and participatory politics and another on connected learning--and other projects that examine what young
people are doing online, their views on such activities, and the knowledge, skills, and competencies they
are gaining.
URL: https://www.macfound.org/info-grantseekers/grantmaking-guidelines/learning-grant-guidelines/
Deadline: The Foundation is not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time. Recipients are
identified through staff deliberations resulting from consultations with current grantees and others
in the field.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Bridging Cultures through Film: International Topics
This grant supports documentary films that examine international and transnational themes in the
humanities. These projects are meant to spark Americans’ engagement with the broader world by
exploring one or more countries and cultures outside of the United States. Proposed documentaries
must be analytical and deeply grounded in humanities scholarship. The program encourages the
exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling that presents multiple points of view in creative
formats. The proposed film should range in length from a standard broadcast length of thirty minutes
to a feature-length documentary. A wide range of topics are welcome as long as they transcend the
boundaries of the United States.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/bridging-cultures-through-film-international-topics
Deadline: June 10
Collaborative Research Grants
Collaborative Research Grants support interpretive humanities research undertaken by a team of two
or more scholars, for full-time or part-time activities for periods of up to one to three years. Support is
available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related
travel; fieldwork; applications of information technology; and technical support and services. Projects
can include research that significantly adds to knowledge and understanding of the humanities;
conferences on topics of major importance; archaeological projects that include the interpretation and
communication of results; or research that uses the knowledge and perspectives of the humanities and
historical or philosophical methods to enhance understanding of science, technology, medicine, and
the social sciences. All grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to the
appropriate scholarly and public audiences. Awards are for 1-3 years and normally range from an
average of $25,000 to $100,000 per year. Awards for conferences are typically made for a minimum
of 1 year and normally range from $15,000 to $65,000 per grant.
URL: http://neh.gov/grants/guidelines/collaborative.html
Deadline: December 9
Digital Humanities Implementation Grants
This program is designed to fund the implementation of innovative digital humanities projects that
have successfully completed a start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field. Such projects
might enhance our understanding of central problems in the humanities, raise new questions in the
humanities, or develop new digital applications and approaches for use in the humanities. The
program can support innovative digital humanities projects that address multiple audiences, including
scholars, teachers, librarians, and the public. These projects may involve research that brings new
approaches or documents best practices; implementation of computationally-based methods or
techniques; implementation of new digital tools for use in humanities research; efforts to ensure the
completion and long-term sustainability of existing digital resources; scholarship that examines the
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history, criticism and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society; scholarship or studies
that examine the philosophical or practical implications of emerging technologies; and
implementation of new digital modes of scholarly communication. Awards are for 1-3 years and
range from $100,000-$325,000.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/digitalhumanitiesimplementation.html
Deadline: February 17
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants
The Digital Humanities Start-up Grants program awards relatively small grants to support the
planning stages of digital projects that promise to benefit the humanities. The program supports both
new projects in early stages of development and efforts to reinvigorate existing or dormant projects in
innovative ways. Proposals should be for the planning or initial stages of digital initiatives in any area
of the humanities. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants may involve creating or enhancing
experimental, computationally-based methods or techniques for humanities research, teaching,
preservation, or public programming; pursuing scholarly research that examines the history, criticism
and philosophy of digital culture and its impact on society; explores the philosophical or practical
implications and impact of digital humanities in specific fields or disciplines; or revitalizing and/or
recovering existing digital projects that promise to contribute substantively to scholarship, teaching,
or public knowledge of the humanities. Experimentation, reuse, and extensibility are hallmarks of this
grant category, which incorporates the “high risk/high reward” paradigm often used by funding
agencies in the sciences. NEH is requesting proposals for projects that take some risks in the pursuit
of innovation and excellence. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants should result in plans, prototypes,
or proofs of concept for long-term digital humanities projects prior to implementation. They can also
be used to revitalize or recover projects in innovative ways that will allow greater access, reuse, and
extensibility. Two levels of awards are made in this program.
1) Level I awards are small grants of up to $40,000 designed to fund brainstorming sessions,
workshops, early alpha-level prototypes, and initial planning.
2) Level II awards are larger grants that can be used for more fully formed projects that are ready to
start the first stage of implementation or demonstrate proofs of concept.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/digitalhumanitiesstartup.html
Deadline: September 16
Digital Projects for the Public
This program supports projects that significantly contribute to the public’s engagement with the
humanities. Digital platforms--such as websites, mobile applications and tours, interactive touch
screens and kiosks, games, and virtual environments--can reach diverse audiences and bring the
humanities to life for the American people. These projects should deepen public understanding of
significant humanities stories and ideas; incorporate sound humanities scholarship; involve
humanities scholars in all phases of development and production; include appropriate digital media
professionals; reach a broad public through a realistic plan; create appealing digital formats for the
general public; and demonstrate the capacity to sustain themselves.
The program offers three levels of support for digital projects:
1) Discovery projects-- may be used for content research and narrative development; consultation
with humanities scholars; platform research and selection; identification or digitization of
production assets; preliminary design; audience evaluation; user experience mockups; and
storyboarding. ($30,000)
2) Prototyping projects-- support the creation of proof-of-concept prototypes. Proposals for
prototyping grants must include a design document that describes the project’s platform, user
interface, design, and the ways in which the project’s central humanities ideas will be conveyed.
These grants should result in a digital prototype that explains the key digital features and
humanities content of the project. These grants may be used to refine humanities content; consult
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with scholars and digital media experts; finalize platform; scripting; creating or digitizing of
audiovisual assets; using interface and backend development, testing and de-bugging; final
design, audience evaluation; and other activities to advance the project to the production stage.
(up to $100,000)
3) Production projects-- support the production and distribution of humanities projects that have a
primarily digital format. Applicants must submit a design document and a prototype that
demonstrate a solid command of the humanities ideas and scholarship related to the subject. The
prototype must show how the narrative, audiovisual, and interactive elements function to bolster
an audience’s experience of the project’s humanities ideas. Production grants may be used for
ongoing consultation with scholars; additional research and writing; fine-tuning the hardware,
software and platform; final design, production, and distribution of digital media projects;
finalizing of script and audiovisual assets; rights and licensing fees; production of complementary
components; publication of complementary materials; publicity, and project evaluation.
(up to $400,000)
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/digital-projects-the-public
Deadline: June 8
Documenting Endangered Languages
This program is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the
National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop and advance knowledge concerning endangered
human languages. Made urgent by the imminent death of an estimated half of the 6,000-7,000
currently used languages, this effort aims also to exploit advances in information technology. Awards
support fieldwork and other activities relevant to recording, documenting, and archiving endangered
languages, including the preparation of lexicons, grammars, text samples, and databases. DEL
funding is available in the form of 1-3 year project grants as well as fellowships for 6-12 months.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/documenting-endangered-languages
Deadline: September 15
Enduring Questions
The NEH Enduring Questions grant program supports faculty members in the preparation of a new
course on a fundamental concern of human life as addressed by the humanities. This question-driven
course would encourage undergraduates and teachers to join together in a deep and sustained program
of reading in order to encounter influential ideas, works, and thinkers over the centuries. The course is
to be developed by one or more (up to four) faculty members at a single institution, but not teamtaught. Enduring Questions courses must be taught from a common syllabus and must be offered
during the grant period at least twice by each faculty member involved in developing the course. The
grant supports the work of faculty members in designing, preparing, and assessing the new course.
These grants can provide up to $38,000 in outright funds for projects serving a single institution. For
a course developed by a single faculty member, the maximum award is $20,000; for a course
developed by two faculty the maximum award is $28,000; for a course designed by three faculty
members, the maximum award is $34,000; and for a course developed by four faculty members, the
maximum award if $38,000. The grant period may run between 18-36 months.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html
Deadline: September 10
Humanities Collections and Reference Resources
The Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program supports projects that provide an
essential underpinning for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities.
Thousands of libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country maintain
important collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images,
archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art and material culture, and digital objects. Funding from
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this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content
widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology. Awards are also made to create various
reference resources that facilitate use of cultural materials, from works that provide basic information
quickly to tools that synthesize and codify knowledge of a subject for in-depth investigation. HCRR
offers two kinds of awards: 1) implementation grants (up to $350,000 for up to 3 years) and 2)
Foundation Grants for planning, assessment, and pilot efforts ($40,000 for up to 2 years).
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/humanities-collections-and-reference-resources
Deadline: July 21
Humanities in the Public Square
This program welcomes projects addressing a significant humanities theme that is important to a
particular community, region, or state. The theme may be based on a significant public issue that is
informed by the humanities in ways that will appeal to public audiences and concerns. The project
should consist of a public forum that engages scholars and humanities practitioners in discussion with
a public audience about a theme; subsequent public programs that use creative formats to engage
audiences; and educational resources that disseminate materials for ongoing use by teachers, students,
and/or lifelong learners. Applicants are strongly encouraged to forge partnerships with other
institutions as appropriate (especially state humanities councils) to ensure that the scholarly, public
programming, and educational elements are well conceived and realized. Awards can be up to
$300,000. The requested amount should reflect the project’s complexity, number of venues, estimated
number of participants, and partnerships. The grant period can last as long as 12 months.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/humanities-in-the-public-square
Deadline: June 24
Humanities Open Book Program
NEH and Mellon are soliciting proposals from academic presses, scholarly societies, museums, and
other institutions that publish books in the humanities to participate in the Humanities Open Book
Program. Applicants will provide a list of previously published humanities books along with brief
descriptions of the books and their intellectual significance. NEH and Mellon anticipate that
applicants may propose to digitize a total that ranges from less than 50 to more than 100 books.
Awards will be given to digitize these books and make them available as Creative Commons-licensed
eBooks that can be read by the public at no charge on computers, mobile devices, and eBook readers.
The final eBook files must be in EPUB version 3.0.1 (or later) format, to ensure that the text is fully
searchable and reflowable and that fonts are resizeable on any e-reading device. Awards are for 1-3
years and range from $50,000 to $100,000.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/odh/humanities-open-book-program
Deadline: June 10
Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
This grant supports national or regional (multistate) training programs for scholars and advanced
graduate students to broaden and extend their knowledge of digital humanities. The projects may be a
single opportunity or offered multiple times to different audiences. Institutes may be as short as a few
days and held at multiple locations or as long as six weeks at a single site. NEH strongly encourages
applicants to develop proposals for multidisciplinary teams of collaborators that will offer the
necessary range of intellectual, technical, and practical expertise. This program is designed to bring
together humanities scholars, advanced graduate students, librarians, archivists, museum staff,
computer scientists, information specialists, and others to learn new tools, approaches, and
technologies and to foster relationships for future collaborations in the humanities. Institutes may be
hosted by colleges, universities, learned societies, centers for advanced study, libraries, other
repositories, and cultural or professional organizations. The host site(s) must be appropriate for the
project, providing facilities for scholarship and collegial interaction. Projects that will be held more
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than once at different locations are permissible. Awards normally range from 1-3 years and from
$50,000 to a maximum of $250,000 in outright funds.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/IATDH.html
Deadline: March 15
Landmarks of American History and Culture: Workshops for School Teachers
This program supports one-week, residence-based workshops for a national audience of K-12
educators. NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops use historic sites to address
central themes and issues in American history, government, literature, art, music, and other related
subjects in the humanities. Landmarks Workshops are held at or near sites important to American
history and culture (e.g., presidential residences or libraries; colonial-era settlements; major
battlefields; historic districts; parks and preserves; sites of key economic, social, political, and
constitutional developments; and places associated with major writers, artists, or musicians).
Applicants should make a compelling case for the historical significance of the site(s), the material
resources available for use, and the ways in which the site(s) will enhance the workshop. Workshops
are academically rigorous and focus on key primary sources, documents, and scholarly works relevant
to major themes of American history and culture. Leading scholars should serve as lecturers or
seminar leaders to help participants enhance their teaching. Awards range between $150,000$180,000, assuming that 1-week session costs approximately $75,000-$90,000.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/education/landmarks-american-history-and-culture-workshopsschool-teachers
Deadline: preliminary sketch due December 15; drafts due January 24; final applications due
February 25
Media Projects: Development and Production Grants
NEH supports media projects in the humanities that explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our
understanding of our lives and world. Projects should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic
engagement, and foster learning among people of all ages. Applicants should consider more than one
format for presenting humanities ideas to the public. NEH offers two categories for media projects:
1) Development grants support film, television, and radio projects for general audiences that
encourage active engagement with humanities ideas in creative ways. All projects must be grounded
in humanities scholarship in disciplines such as history, art history, film studies, literature, drama,
religious studies, philosophy, and anthropology. Projects must demonstrate an approach that is
thoughtful, balanced, and analytical, going beyond the mere presentation of factual information to
explore its larger significance and stimulate critical thinking. These awards range from $40,000$75,000, depending on the complexity of the project, and are usually for a period of 6-12 months.
2) Production grants support film, television, and radio projects for general audiences that encourage
active engagement with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. These projects should have
completed research on the subject, including archival work and preliminary interviews; involve
scholars in creating and interpreting the project’s content; completed the project’s script(s) for film or
television projects, or detailed treatments for radio projects; and designed the plans for distribution,
outreach, and partnerships. Chairman’s Special Awards (up to $1 million) are offered for projects of
exceptional significance, audience reach, and complexity. This kind of project should examine
important humanities ideas in new ways and promise to reach extremely large audiences. These goals
can often be accomplished through combining a variety of program formats, forming creative
collaborations among diverse institutions, and significantly expanding the scope and reach of the
project. These awards are offered only at the production stage--not at the development stage.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/media-projects-development-grants
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/media-projects-production-grants
Deadline: August 12
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Museums, Libraries, and Cultural Organizations Grants
This grant program supports projects for general audiences that encourage active engagement with
humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. Many different formats are supported, including
permanent and traveling exhibitions, book or film discussion programs, historic site or district
interpretations, living history presentations, and other face-to-face programs in public venues.
Museums, Libraries, and Cultural Organizations grants provide support for museums, libraries,
historic places, and other organizations that produce public programs in the humanities. 1) Planning
grants are used to refine the content, format, and interpretive approach of a humanities project;
develop the project’s preliminary design; test project components; and conduct audience evaluation.
2) Implementation grants are for projects in the final stages of preparation to “go live” before the
public. Grants support the scholarly research and consultation, design development, production, and
installation of a project for presentation to the public.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/americas-historical-and-cultural-organizations-planninggrants
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/americas-historical-and-cultural-organizationsimplementation-grants
Deadline: August 12
National Digital Newspaper Program
The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). NDNP aims to create a national, digital resource
of historically significant newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, from all the US states and
territories. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC)
and be freely accessible via the Internet. NEH intends to support projects in all US states and
territories, provided that sufficient funds are available for this purpose. One organization within each
U.S. state or territory will receive an award to collaborate with relevant state partners in this effort.
Previously funded projects will be eligible for continued support, but the program will give priority to
new projects. Applications that involve collaboration between previously funded and new projects are
welcome. Successful applicants will select newspapers—published in their state or territory in
English between 1836 and 1922—and convert, primarily from microfilm, over a period of two years,
approximately 100,000 pages into digital files according to the technical guidelines outlined by the
Library of Congress. NEH expects to award cooperative agreements of up to $325,000 each for a 2year period.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/ndnp.html
Deadline: January 14
Preservation and Access
1) Education and Training grants are awarded to organizations that offer national or regional
(multistate) education and training programs. Grants aim to help the staff of cultural institutions, large
and small, obtain the knowledge and skills needed to serve as effective stewards of humanities
collections. Grants also support educational programs that prepare the next generation of conservators
and preservation professionals, as well as projects that introduce the staff of cultural institutions to
new information and advances in preservation and access practices.
2) Research and Development grants support projects that address major challenges in preserving or
providing access to humanities collections and resources, including the need to find better ways to
preserve materials of critical importance to the nation’s cultural heritage–from fragile artifacts and
manuscripts to analog recordings and digital assets subject to technological obsolescence–and to
develop advanced modes of searching, discovering, and using such materials. Awards are for 2 years
and range from $100,000 to $175,000.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pet.html
Deadline: May 3
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Research and Development
This program offers grants of up to $75,000 for planning and basic research (Tier 1). The grants
support planning and preliminary work for large-scale research and development projects, and standalone basic research projects (such as case studies, experiments, and the development of iterative
tools). The program continues as well to offer grants of up to $350,000 for advanced implementation
(Tier II): the development of standards, practices, methodologies, or workflows for preserving and
creating access to humanities collections; and applied research addressing preservation and access
issues concerning humanities collections. Applicants for Tier II grants will need to provide a separate
one-to two-page detailed plan for dissemination of project results.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/research-and-development
Deadline: June 21
Scholarly Editions and Translations Grants
This grant program supports the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing texts and
documents of value to the humanities that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate
editions. Typically, the texts and documents are significant literary, philosophical, and historical
materials; but other types of work, such as musical notation, are also eligible. Projects must be
undertaken by a team of at least one editor or translator and one other staff member. These grants
support full-time or part-time activities for periods of 1-3 years. Applicants should demonstrate
familiarity with the best practices recommended by the Association for Documentary Editing or the
Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. Awards range from $50,000 to
$100,000 per year.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/research/scholarly-editions-and-translations-grants
Deadline: December 9
Summer Seminars and Institutes
These grants support faculty development programs in the humanities for K-12 teachers and college
and university faculty. NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes may be as short as two weeks or as long
as five weeks. A Summer Seminar or Institute may be hosted by a college, university, learned society,
center for advanced study, library or other repository, cultural or professional organization, or school
or school system. The host site must be suitable for the project, providing facilities for scholarship
and collegial interaction. These programs are designed for a national audience of teachers. Seminar
awards range between $75,000-$150,000 for 12 months. Institute awards range from $90,00$200,000 for 15 months.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/education/summer-seminars-and-institutes
Deadline: preliminary sketch due December 15; drafts due January 24; final
application due February 25
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections
This grant program helps cultural institutions meet the complex challenge of preserving large and
diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations by supporting sustainable
conservation measures that mitigate deterioration and prolong the useful life of collections. This
program helps cultural repositories plan and implement preservation strategies that pragmatically
balance effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact.
1) Planning Grants of up to $40,000 will support projects that may encompass such activities as site
visits, risk assessments, planning sessions, monitoring, testing, modeling, project-specific
research, and preliminary designs for implementation projects. Planning grants must focus on
exploring sustainable preventive conservation strategies., and involve an interdisciplinary team
appropriate to the goals of the project.
2) Implementation grants of up to $350,000 focus on sustainable preservation strategies. Projects
should be based on planning that has been specific to the needs of the institution and its
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collections within the context of the local environment. Grants may support the purchase of
storage furniture and the rehousing of collections that will be moved into a new building,
reorganizing collections by material type, upgrading lighting systems and controls, upgrading a
building automation system for active management of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning
systems; or recommissioning or installing heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/SCHC.html
Deadline: December 1
National Archives and Research Administration
Digital Dissemination of Archival Collections
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission desires to make historical records of
national significance to the United States broadly available by disseminating digital surrogates on the
Internet. Projects may focus on the papers of major figures from American life or cover broad historical
movements in politics, military, business, social reform, the arts, and other aspects of the national
experience. The historical value of the records and their expected usefulness to broad audiences justify the
costs of the project. Grants are awarded for digitizing documentary source materials. Applicants may
digitize a single collection or set of collections for online dissemination. Such publications should provide
basic access to collections. Collaborations among repositories are encouraged. A grant normally is for 1-2
years and up to $150,000.
URL: http://www.archives.gov/nhprc/announcement/digital.html
Deadline: Draft (optional) August 3; Final Deadline October 8
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies
This program aims to integrate opportunities offered by emerging technologies with advances in what
is known about how people learn in order to advance innovation, understanding of how people learn
in technology, and promote broad use and transferability of new genres. Proposals that focus on
teachers or facilitators as learners are invited; the aim should be to help teachers and facilitators learn
to make learning experiences more effective. Proposals that focus on making teaching easier will not
be funded. Cyberlearning awards will be made in three categories: 1) Exploration Projects (EXP)
explore the proof-of-concept or feasibility of a novel technology or use of such technology to promote
learning. Projects might explore how existing technologies can promote learning or explore whether
or how a new or existing technology offers opportunities for engaging in learning. 2) Design and
Implementation Projects (DIP) will conduct research in the everyday environments in which people
spend their lives, e.g., schools, homes, museums, parks, and the workplace. Projects might advance
understanding about how to more broadly or productively use technology that holds promise or how
to coherently integrate several technological innovations that hold promise. 3) Integration and
Deployment Projects (INDP) should also be carried out in the everyday environments in which
people spend their lives, and like other types of projects, they will answer questions about learning
and about design of technology. These projects will build on research that has already shown the
promise of some technology or set of technologies for promoting learning or advancing our
understanding of learning. These projects might advance understanding of how to more broadly or
productively use technology that holds promise or how to coherently integrate several technological
innovations that hold promise. The program also will support small Capacity-Building Projects, e.g.,
conferences, workshops, and partnership-building activities, and will continue to participate in NSF’s
Foundation-Wide programs: EAGER, RAPID, INPIRE, and CAREER.
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504984
Deadlines: Capacity-Building: July 31, December 7, and March 25
Exploration Projects: third Friday in December
Development and Implementation: third Monday in January
Integration Projects: July 11
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Software Development for Cyberinfrastructure (SDIC)
The purpose of the Software Development for Cyberinfrastructure (SDCI) program is to develop and
deploy a set of reusable and expandable software components and systems that benefit a broad set of
science and engineering applications. The program supports software development along two thrust
areas: 1) End-to-end High Performance Computer Networking and 2) Cyber Security. Supported
activities include development, testing, experimental deployment, and trial use of software in relevant
settings enabling research and education activities in any area of science and engineering supported
by NSF. A strong emphasis is placed on moving from infrastructure research to infrastructure
capability.
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5174
Deadline: January 30 *Note: The program is current, but not accepting proposals.
Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2)
Software is an integral enabler of computation, experiment, and theory and a primary modality for
realizing the Cyberinfrastructure Framework for the 21st Century Science and Engineering vision.
Scientific discovery and innovation are advancing along fundamentally new pathways opened by
development of increasingly sophisticated software. The goal of this program is transforming
innovations in research and education into sustained software resources that are an integral part of the
cyperinfrastructure. There are three classes of awards: 1) Scientific Software Elements that target
small groups that will create and deploy robust software elements for which there is a demonstrated
need that will advance one or more significant areas of science and engineering; 2) Scientific
Software Integration awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development
and application of common software infrastructure aimed at solving common research problems faced
by NSF researchers in one or more areas of science and engineering, resulting in a sustainable
community software framework serving a diverse community or communities; 3) Scientific Software
Innovation Institutes awards will focus on the establishment of long-term hubs of excellence in
software infrastructure and technologies, which will serve a research community of substantial size
and disciplinary breadth.
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504865
Deadline: February 4 *Note: The program is current, but not accepting proposals.
Research Coordination Networks (RCN)
The goal of this program is to advance a field or create new directions in research or education by
helping investigators to communicate and coordinate their research, training, and educational
activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic, and international boundaries. RCN provides
opportunities to foster new collaborations, including international partnerships, and address
interdisciplinary topics. Innovative ideas for implementing novel networking strategies, collaborative
technologies, and development of community standards for data and meta-data are especially
encouraged. Awards are meant to support the means by which investigators can share information and
ideas, coordinate ongoing or planned research activities, foster synthesis and new collaborations,
develop community standards, and in other ways advance science and education through
communication and sharing of ideas.
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=11691
Deadline: Rolling
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offers grants in three major program areas: Global Development,
Global Health, and the United States. Each program area lists the current funding priorities; please check
website for details. The Foundation encourages large-scale, sustainable, collaborative projects.
URL: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/programs/Pages/overview.aspx
Deadline: Varies, please see website
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The John Templeton Foundation
The Templeton Foundation offers grants in the core area of “Science and the Big Questions,” including
Human Sciences (anthropology, sociology, political science and psychology) and Philosophy and
Theology.
URL: http://www.templeton.org/
Deadline: Not currently accepting online funding inquiries, full proposals are by invitation only.
The Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation’s grantmaking is primarily proactive in nature. A large majority of grants are
awarded to partners solicited by the Foundation based on unique capacity or position to leverage largescale systemic change. A modest amount of grant monies is allocated for unsolicited inquiries to
encourage innovative ideas that relate to our strategic portfolio. Open challenges are funded through
http://www.innocentive.com to engage create individuals through open innovation in areas that would
transform higher education in America. Please visit website for award amounts.
URL: http://www.luminafoundation.org/grants.html
Deadline: Letters of Inquiry
U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Programs
FIPSE offers the First in the World Program, which provides grants to spur the development of
innovations that improve educational outcomes, making college more affordable for students and
families, and develops an evidence base of effective practices. The Centers of Excellence for Veteran
Student Success encourages model programs to support veteran student access in postsecondary education
by coordinating services to address the academic, financial, physical, and social needs of veteran students.
The Training for Realtime Writers provides grants for the recruitment, training, and assistance, and job
placement of individuals who have completed a court reporting training program as Realtime writers.
URL: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/fipse/index.html
Deadline: Various, please see website for specific program information
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