NEH Fellowships 2009
Faculty workshop on using Grants.gov to
apply for sabbatical fellowships
About the NEH fellowships







Fellowships support individuals pursuing advanced
research that is of value to scholars and general audiences
in the humanities.
Fellowships cover periods lasting from six to twelve months
at a stipend of $4,200 per month.
The maximum stipend is $50,400 for a twelve-month tenure
award period.
The award period must be continuous, and award
recipients must work full time on their projects.
Recipients may begin their awards as early as January 1,
2010, and as late as July 1, 2011.
Fellowships support projects at any stage of development.
Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books,
digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations,
editions, and other scholarly tools.
Eligibility

All applicants must have completed their formal
education by the application deadline (May 5, 2009).

U.S. citizens, whether residing inside or outside the
country, and foreign nationals who have been living in
the U.S. or its jurisdictions for at least the three years
prior to the application deadline are eligible to apply.

Concurrent grants from other organizations for the
same project are allowed.

You may apply for funding for a project that has
previously received NEH Fellowship support.
Four steps for NEH Fellowships
1.
Register with Grants.gov
2.
Download the application package and
supplemental form
3.
Complete the application and form
4.
Submit the application
What is Grants.gov?
An “electronic storefront” used to:

Research federal government funding
opportunities

Locate grant application packages,
including instructions and forms

Submit proposals to federal agencies
Step 1: Registering with Grants.gov









Go to www.grants.gov and click “Get Registered” (left
menu)
Click “Individual Registration”
Click “Register with Grants.gov”
Enter the funding opportunity number: 20090505-FA
Click “Register”
Complete the profile form and click “Submit”
Review your info, edit if necessary, and click “Confirm”
Create a username and password (passwords must contain
at least one uppercase letter, one special character such as
# or %, and one number) and click “Submit”
You will receive an e-mail confirmation of your registration.
Tips for Registration

You should register several weeks before the
application deadline.

The Individual Registration User Guide is
available at www.grants.gov/assets/IndvUserGuide.pdf .

You do not need to enter AC’s DUNS #
(066985367) to register as an individual (but will
need this number later in the process).

If you have trouble with registration, contact the
Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726 or
support@grants.gov.
Step 2: Get the application forms

Click “Apply for Grants” on the left menu at Grants.gov

First, download Adobe Reader if you don’t already have it. (NOTE: You
must use Adobe Reader 8.1.3 or higher, not Adobe Professional.)

ITEM 1: Next, click on “Download a Grant Application Package,” enter
funding opportunity number 20090505-FA and click “Download Package”

Enter your e-mail address to receive notification of any changes to the
forms or process

ITEM 2: Download the NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals
form from www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pdf/FellowshipsSupplemental.pdf

Save the application package and supplemental info form on your
computer

Optional: Sign up for the NEH Fellowship listserv to receive info about
submission difficulties at https://securegrants.neh.gov/fellowships.asp
Step 3: Completing the application

The guidelines can be found at
www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/fellowships.html .

You will be working offline on the application
until it is ready to upload and submit.
 Use Adobe Reader 8.1.3 or higher every time
you work on your application package.
 You can work on your application on a Mac,
but you must use a PC with Internet Explorer
to upload and submit.
Application components


The application package contains two forms that you
must complete in order to submit your application:
1. Application for Federal Assistance SF424Individual—this form asks for basic information
about the project and the applicant.
2. NEH Attachment Form—this form allows you to
attach your narrative, bibliography, resume, and
appendix.
In addition, you must complete the NEH
Supplemental Information for Individuals form (this
will be attached to the attachment form).
The SF424-Individual Form

Open the application package (Tip: Always right click on the file
and open with Adobe Reader 8.1.x if you also have Adobe
Professional on your computer.)

Fill in the “Application Filing Name” (this is an abbreviated version
of your project title, limited to 38 characters without punctuation)

Click on the SF424 form in the left box, click “Move form to
complete,” click on the form in the right box, and click “Open
Form”

Some fields will be pre-populated

You will need to complete all the yellow fields

Congressional district (p. 2): Enter MA-001 if Olver is your US
representative or MA-002 if Neal is your rep. If you live
elsewhere, locate your district by entering your zip code on the
left side of the page at www.house.gov .
SF424 (continued)

Enter the title of your project (this box isn’t yellow, but you should
complete it). The field limit is 200 characters. Do not use
punctuation marks or special characters in this field.

Enter your project description. The field limit is 1,000 characters.
This should be written for a non-specialist audience, stating the
importance of the proposed work to larger issues in the
humanities.

Check the box "By signing this Application. . . ".

Use the "Close Form" button at the upper left page 2 to save
your SF424 and return to the main menu.

Click “Save” at the top of page 1 before closing the application.

TIP: You can get info about any field by clicking in the box and
then clicking “About” at the top of the form.
NEH Supplemental Information for
Individuals Form

Open the form (Tip: Always right click on the file and open with Adobe
Reader 8.1.x if you also have Adobe Professional on your computer.)

Provide the following:


Field of project (choose from drop down)

Field of study (choose from drop down)

Indicate if the mailing address on the SF424-Individual Form is your home
or work address.

Institution: Trustees of Amherst College

DUNS Number: 066985367

TIN/EIN: 042103542

Reference Letters: Provide the names, e-mail addresses, and affiliations for
your two recommenders. NEH will contact these individuals, requesting that
they write their letters of recommendation.

Nominating Official: Leave this section blank for fellowships.
Save the form with the filename NEHinfo.pdf. You will later attach it to
your application using the attachments form in the application package.
Attachments

All attachments must be in PDF format.
PC users can download and install a free
program called PDF Creator from
www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator . To
convert your document, go to the File
menu, choose Print, then choose PDF
Creator in your printer options box.
 To convert a document to PDF on a Mac
with OS X, go to the File menu, choose
Print, then PDF, then Save as PDF.

Attachments (continued)

Required size and names for your attachments:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals
form (Name the file “NEHinfo.pdf”)
Narrative - 3 single-spaced pages (“narrative.pdf”)
Bibliography - 1 single-spaced page
(“bibliography.pdf”)
Resume - 2 single-spaced pages (“resume.pdf”)
Appendix (only for editions, translations, or
database projects, or for proposals that include
visual materials, "appendix.pdf")
Don’t use any special characters in filenames.
Using the NEH Attachment Form
After converting all your attachments to
PDFs, open your application package
again, using Adobe Reader 8.1.x.
 Click on Attachments in the left box, click
“Move form to complete,” click on the
form in the right box, and click “Open
Form”

Attachment form (continued)
Order for attachments:
1. NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals form
(“NEHinfo.pdf”)
2. Narrative (“narrative.pdf”)
3. Bibliography (“bibliography.pdf”)
4. Resume (“resume.pdf”)
5. Appendix (only for editions, translations, or
database projects, or for proposals that include
visual materials, "appendix.pdf")
Do not attach anything else!
Click “Close Form” and then “Save”
Use a PC to submit

From this point forward, you must use a
PC and Internet Explorer.

If you don’t have a PC, either copy your
application package from your Mac to a
flash drive or e-mail it to yourself.
4. Submitting the application



IMPORTANT: To avoid technical problems, or resolve
any that occur, plan to submit your application a week
before the deadline.
On a PC, first open Internet Explorer. Note: Firefox
may be the default browser on your computer, but all
PCs should have IE also.
Minimize the browser window
 Open your application package using Adobe Reader
8.1.x
 Click “Check Package for Errors” and make any
necessary corrections
Next steps
Click “Save and Submit.” You will be
connected automatically to the internet via IE.
 Enter your username and password
 Click “Sign and Submit Application”
 After the upload is complete, you will see a
confirmation page, which includes a
Grants.gov tracking number. Please print this
page for your records.


You will also receive a confirmation e-mail.
Amherst College Resources
Individual Sponsored Research
Mary Ramsay, Associate Director
Foundation and Corporate Relations, Office of Development
x8245
mramsay@amherst.edu
Group/Collaborative Sponsored Research
Lisa Stoffer, Director
Corporate & Foundation Relations, Office of Development
x2724
lstoffer@amherst.edu
Arts and Social Sciences Sponsored Research
Nicola Courtright
Associate Dean of the Faculty
X2123
nmcourtwright@amherst.edu