Collaborative Research Grants
(Instructions for Organizations)

Applications accepted by Grants.gov from September 2, 2005 to November 1, 2005

NEH encourages you to use Grants.gov to submit your NEH grant application package. If your organization hasn't already done so, it must register with Grants.gov before submitting a grant application for the first time. You can learn how to get started on the Grants.Gov website at http://www.grants.gov/GetStarted. In addition, NEH has created an easy-to-follow checklist for registering which is available at: http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/grantsgovchecklist.html. If you have problems registering with Grants.gov, call the help desk at 1-800-518-4726.

To submit your application via Grants.gov, you will need to download the application package.

Once you have downloaded your application package, you open it on your computer using the PureEdge program. The application package contains three forms that you must complete in order to submit your application:

  1. Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Short Organizational (SF-424 Short) -- this form asks for basic information about the project, the project director, and the institution.

  2. Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs -- this form asks for additional information about the project director, the institution, and the budget.

  3. NEH Attachment Form -- this form allows you to attach your narrative, resume, and the other pieces of your application.

Below, you will find detailed instructions on how to fill out each form. Please consult the guidelines for this program to learn about the application requirements.


1. How to Fill out the Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Short Organizational (SF-424 Short) Form

  1. Name of Federal Agency: This will be filled in automatically with "National Endowment for the Humanities."

  2. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: This will be filled in automatically with the CFDA number and title of the NEH program to which you are applying.

  3. Date Received: Please leave blank.

  4. Funding Opportunity Number: This will be filled in automatically.

  5. Applicant Information: In this section, please supply the name, address, employer/taxpayer identification number (EIN/TIn), DUNS number, website address, and congressional district of the institution. Also choose the "type" that best describes your institution (you only need to select one).

    If your institution is located in the 5th Congressional District of California, put a "5." If your institution doesn't have a congressional district (e.g. it is in a state or U.S. territory that doesn't have districts or is in a foreign country), put a "0" (zero).

  6. Project Information: Provide the title of your project. Your title should be brief, descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a non-specialist audience. Provide a brief description of your project. The description should be written for a non-specialist audience and clearly state the importance of the proposed work and its relation to larger issues in the humanities. List the starting and ending dates for your project.

  7. Project Director: Provide the Social Security Number, name, title, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers for the project director.

    Disclosure of Social Security Numbers is optional. NEH uses them for internal application processing only.

  8. Primary Contact/Grants Administrator: Provide the contact information for the official responsible for the administration of the grant (e.g., negotiating the project budget and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of the award). This person is often a grants or research officer, or a sponsored programs official. Normally, the Institutional Grants Administrator is not the same person as the Project Director. If the project director and the grant administrator are the same person, skip to item 9.

  9. Authorized Representative: Provide the contact information for the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) who is submitting the application on behalf of the institution. This person, often called an "Authorizing Official," is typically the president, vice president, executive director, provost, or chancellor. In order to become an AOR, the person must be designated by the institution's E-Business Point of Contact. For more information, please consult the Grants.Gov user guide, which is available at: http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport.


2. How to Fill Out the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs

  1. Project Director: Use the pull down menu to select the major field of study for the project director.

  2. Institution Information: Use the pull down menu to select your type of institution.

  3. Project Funding: Enter your project funding information. Note that applicants for Challenge Grants should use the right column only; applicants to all other programs should use the left column only.

  4. Application Information: Indicate whether the proposal will be submitted to other NEH grant programs, government agencies, or private entities for funding. If so, please indicate where and when. NEH frequently cosponsors projects with other funding sources. Providing this information will not prejudice the review of your application.

    For Type of Application, check "new" if the application requests a new period of funding, whether for a new project or the next phase of a project previously funded by NEH. Check "supplement" if the application requests additional funding for a current NEH grant. If requesting a supplement, provide the current grant number (applicants should discuss their request with a NEH program officer before submitting such an application).

    For Project Field Code, use the pull down menu to select the humanities field of the project. If the project is multidisciplinary, choose the field that corresponds to the project's predominant discipline.

3. How to Fill Out the NEH Attachment Form

You will use this form to attach the various files that make up your application.

Two important points:

  1. Your attachments must be in either Portable Document Format (.pdf) or ASCII text (.txt). We cannot accept attachments in their original word processing or spreadsheet formats. We strongly recommend you compose your documents using your preferred word processor or spreadsheet program and then convert them to PDFs. That way, all of your formatting will be preserved. If you don't already have software to convert your files into PDFs, there are many low-cost and free software packages that can do this. To learn more, go to http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html.

  2. You must name and attach your files in the proper order so that we can tell which one is which. Please see below for the details.

When you open the NEH Attachment Form, you will find 15 attachment buttons, labeled "Attachment 1" through "Attachment 15." By clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the file from your computer that you wish to attach. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below:

ATTACHMENT 1: To this button, please attach your statement of significance and impact. Please name the file "statement.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "statement.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your table of contents. Please name the file "content.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "contents.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your list of project participants. Please name the file "participants.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "participants.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your narrative. Please name the file "narrative.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "narrative.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your budget. Please name the file "budget.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "budget.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your appendices. Please name the file "appendices.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "appendices.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your statement of history of grants. Please name the file "history.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "history.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

ATTACHMENT 8: To this button, please attach your list of suggested evaluators. Please name the file "evaluators.pdf" (if in Acrobat format) or "evaluators.txt" (if in ASCII text format).

Use the remaining buttons to attach your appendices, e.g. résumés, letters of commitment, reading lists, and syllabi. Please be sure to give these additional attachments meaningful file names and ensure that they are in Acrobat or ASCII text format.

Non-Electronic Attachments

After you submit your electronic application to Grants.Gov, you will be assigned a Grants.Gov tracking number on the screen. It will also be e-mailed to your AOR. If you need to send additional materials, please clearly write this tracking number, along with the name of your institution, on the envelope. Send the materials to:

Collaborative Research Program
Division of Education Programs
National Endowment for the Humanities
Room 318
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8200

Additional Help

For additional help on how to use Grants.Gov, please see the help screens on the Grants.Gov website at http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport. You can also send e-mail to the Grants.Gov helpdesk at support@grants.gov or call them at 1-800-518-4726.

If you have questions about the Collaborative Research program, please contact the Division of Research Programs at collaborative@neh.gov or 202-606-8200.