How to Apply for a Grant for a Humanities
Project
If your group or organization wants to plan, conduct, and evaluate a
humanities project that is intended to serve specific audiences in Arkansas, you may be
eligible to apply to the Arkansas Humanities Council for a grant to help with project
costs.
The council’s board of
directors awards grants based on written applications that are submitted at specific
deadlines. The board reviews all applications received at a specific deadline in
competition with each other. Since the amount of grant funds requested is always more than
we have available, not all applications are funded. It is in your interest to submit as
competitive an application as possible. Our program staff can help you plan a project and
develop a strong proposal.
An application for a grant includes
a completed application form plus several additional
explanatory pages. In order to apply for a grant, your group must take the following
steps:
Confirm that you are eligible for a grant. We award grants to a wide
range of groups and organizations, but not to individuals. If your group or organization
was formed for nonprofit purposes, it is likely to be eligible. Examples are schools,
colleges and universities, libraries, museums, public radio and television stations,
historical societies, local service organizations, and churches. There are many others.
To confirm your eligibility, your group or organization must complete an Application
for Qualification. The council will not consider a grant application unless the
applicant has an approved Application for Qualification on file with us. The purpose
of the Application for Qualification is to obtain basic information that confirms the
applicant's non-profit status and its ability to manage a grant. Once an approved
Application for Qualification is on file with the council, you do not need to submit one
prior to future applications, unless the status of your organization changes.
Choose a project category from the descriptions in the section titled "Application Guidelines for Specific Project Categories".
Determine which project category your project falls under.
Choose and complete the appropriate grant application form. The
council has two grant levels: major grants of more than $1,000 for all project categories,
except planning; and minigrants of $1,000 or less for public programs and planning. There
are two grant application forms, one for each level of
funding. The description of the project category in which you are applying tells you which
form you will need. Your answers to the questions we ask on the application forms
will help us determine how well your project meets our criteria for an eligible project.
To be eligible, a project must fall under one of the project categories and meet the
following criteria:
- It must be a project that involves one or more of
the humanities in a central way. The grant application must include a concrete explanation
of the humanities content of the project. This explanation should describe the substance
of presentations, discussions, and other activities, and of any products, such as books or
video productions, that will result from project activities. If projects result in
materials that might be useful to researchers (for example, video recordings of lectures,
oral histories, research notes) the grant application must explain how the materials will
be preserved and how potential users will be informed that the materials are available.
This does not apply to copies of certain materials that must be provided to the council.
- Humanities scholars
must be involved in
planning, conducting, and evaluating the project. Their knowledge and their skills in
research, analysis, writing, and teaching should be evident. You must state explicitly
in the biographical summaries attachment (see "Application
Guidelines for Specific Project Categories") whether the humanities scholars and
other program participants have actually agreed to serve on the dates and in the manner
outlined in the proposal.
- The project should be designed to serve a specific Arkansas
audience. The audience should be represented in project planning and in evaluation.
The council normally will not award grants for projects intended primarily for humanities
scholars or college and university students. For example, the council will not fund
scholarly conferences that do not have a strong public outreach component, nor will it
fund regular college and university courses offered for undergraduate credit. Audiences
should be taken into account in selecting formats, dates, times, and locations of project
activities. When project activities will be open to a limited number of audience
members who have particular qualifications (for example, a summer seminar for twenty
school teachers), the grant application should explain how the audience will be selected.
- Applicants should develop a concrete plan for publicity
for the project. Good publicity is essential for a successful project. Publication
and media production proposals should include distribution plans. Publicity for approved
projects, as well as project products such as books and films, must contain an
acknowledgment of support from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment
for the Humanities. Successful applicants will receive instructions regarding the language
of required acknowledgments.
- Applicants are expected to develop a plan for
evaluating the project and to assemble an evaluation committee to assess the degree
to which the project meets its objectives. A summary of the conclusions of the evaluation
committee - which should include at least a humanities scholar, a representative of the
audience, and someone involved in the planning - is an important part of the final report
required for all projects receiving grants from the council. The evaluation committee
should not be composed exclusively of those involved in planning and conducting the
project or exclusively of employees of the grant applicant.
Please note that the application
form must be signed by an official of the applicant organization who can provide the
required certifications on the signature page. The authorizing official should review the
"Instructions for Certification" contained in the application form. The project
director will not normally be the authorizing official. If you have questions about
certification, please contact the council's executive director.
Complete a budget explanation and the other attachments
required for the project category under which you are applying. These are explained in
the description of the project category under which you are applying. In addition to the
budget summary on the application form, we require you to explain how you arrived at
the amounts in your budget. Please format your budget explanation the same way that the
budget summary is formatted. See "Budgets".
Submit the original grant application form and attachments plus the
required number of copies of the form and attachments. Major grant applications
require 25 copies. Minigrant applications require six copies.
You may provide additional
information or attachments if you wish, but keep them to a minimum.
The budget explanation should be
the first attachment, and the pages of all the attachments should be numbered
consecutively.
Please do not cover, bind, or
staple proposals or copies.
Meet the appropriate deadline. Deadlines vary for each
project category and both funding levels. Deadlines are specified in the descriptions of
the project categories and in the grid on the inside back cover of this booklet. Applications
should be postmarked by the deadline or delivered to the council office by 4:00 p.m. on
the day of the deadline. If a deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, applications are due
on the first following work day.
A note about repeat funding for
the same project. The council actively seeks opportunities to help groups establish
high-quality long-term or permanent humanities programs that serve large and
diverse Arkansas audiences. Accordingly, the council is willing to provide annual funding
for specific projects for up to five years. A proposal for first-year funding for such a
project must include a detailed description of the applicant’s plans for achieving
its long-term goals, with special emphasis on plans for fundraising. Proposals for funding
in succeeding years should describe the recipient’s progress in establishing the
long-term program.
What this policy means is that the
council is willing to help for a reasonable period of time to get a worthwhile humanities
initiative under way, but expects that the grantee will recruit other financial partners.
Normally, it also means that the council’s funding commitment will decrease as
funding from other sources increases. In any case, the council will commit to no more than
one year of funding at a time, and all proposals for such funding will be considered in
competition with other proposals received at the same application deadline.
Some activities are not eligible
for funding from the Arkansas Humanities Council:
- social or political action programs that
advocate a specific point of view
- projects that are primarily intended to
promote an organization or its programs
- construction, preservation, or
renovation of facilities
- travel to professional meetings or
international travel
- creative or performing arts, unless
interpretation by humanities scholars is central to projects that feature the arts
- entertainment, including receptions at
public events
Introduction
The Humanities, Humanities Scholars, and Humanities Projects
How to Apply for a Grant | Specific
Project Categories
Budgets | Matching Grants
| Application Forms
Table of Categories, Maximum Grant Amounts, and Deadlines
Resource
Center | About Us | Grant
Guidelines
Copyright © 1997 Arkansas Humanities
Council
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