Landmarks Workshops for School Teachers

1. Table of contents

List all parts of the application and page numbers. Beginning with the narrative description, pages should be numbered consecutively through all sections of the application, including the appendices.

2. Narrative

Limit the narrative to twenty double-spaced pages with one-inch margins and a font size no smaller than twelve points. Use appendices to provide concise supplementary material that is directly germane to the project.

Provide a detailed description of the project, consisting of the following sections:

Intellectual rationale
Provide an intellectual justification for the workshop and address the importance of the subject for understanding American history and culture. Explain the significance of the selected landmark(s) and show how on-site resources will contribute to the workshop’s goals. Identify topics that participants will explore in the workshop and put them in their scholarly and educational contexts. Describe the intended impact on school teachers and their students.
Content and design
Describe how the project will be structured, what will be expected of the participants, and how they will be actively engaged in the workshop’s collegial intellectual inquiry. (Please consult the Principles of Civility for NEH Seminars, Institutes, and Workshops.) In particular,
- describe discussion topics and scholars’ presentations, including the central questions to be engaged;
- discuss the readings in detail, showing how their approaches and arguments illuminate the subject under study;
- identify other resources and materials to be used;
- describe the site(s) to be studied and explain how the workshop will make use of the landmark(s) (including maps and diagrams, if appropriate);
- describe plans for facilitating participants’ individual projects (e.g., developing classroom resources or undertaking research) and for providing feedback; and
- describe any other outcomes or products for broader dissemination, such as a project website.
Because of school calendars, NEH Landmarks Workshops for School Teachers should begin no earlier than late June and end before the middle of August. NEH recommends that at least one of the two workshops supported by the grant should be held in July.
Faculty and staff
Identify the principal faculty, visiting lecturers, other humanities professionals, and support staff. Describe their roles, responsibilities, and qualifications. In an appendix, provide up-to-date letters of commitment and brief (two-page) résumés; alternatively, one- to two-page narrative biographies may be submitted. The persons who bear primary intellectual responsibility for the workshop should provide résumés of no more than five pages in an appendix.
Selection of participants
Describe the anticipated audience for the workshop and your plans to attract applicants, and explain how participants will be selected. Keep in mind that Landmarks Workshops should draw on a national pool of applicants. NEH staff will provide guidelines for general eligibility and selection criteria, along with guidelines for applications to participate in a Landmarks Workshop. You should indicate any special criteria pertinent to participating in the proposed workshop.

Workshop participants must be chosen by a selection committee convened by the project director. Landmarks selection committees for school teacher programs customarily consist of three members: the project director, one of the project scholars, and a veteran school teacher.
Professional development
NEH recognizes that many teachers will want to obtain continuing education units (CEUs) or in-service credit for their participation in a workshop. When feasible, the application should discuss how the project will provide necessary documentation for the teachers.
Institutional context
Provide specific details about the availability, quality, and costs of housing. Describe the options for meals. Discuss the academic and technological resources available for the workshop.

3. Budget

Provide a budget for the workshop. A sample budget is available for guidance.

All of the items listed must be reasonable, necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable in terms of the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and incurred during the grant period. Charges to the project for items such as salaries, fringe benefits, travel, and contractual services must conform to the written policies and established practices of the applicant organization. When indirect costs are charged to the project, care should be taken that expenses included in the organization’s indirect-cost pool are not charged to the project as direct costs.

Participant stipends
Workshops are held two times during the summer and accommodate forty teachers at each one-week session. Each participant will receive a $1,200 stipend, which is intended to help cover travel, housing, meals, and other living expenses, as well as books and research expenses. NEH expects the sponsoring institution to make provision for suitable housing for participants at reasonable rates.
Operating costs
Item 1: Salaries and wages

Item 1a: List here compensation for the project director(s) employed by the applicant institution. Project directors are compensated for conducting all aspects of the program, including overseeing all arrangements, recruiting and selecting participants, and conducting the residential portion of the project during the summer. Directors may not assume any other commitments when the participants are in residence. The NEH compensation rate is $12,000. If there is more than one director, each should receive 60 percent of this amount, or $7,200. Compensation for directors or co-directors not employed by the applicant institution should be listed under Item 3.

Item 1b: List other project faculty, lecturers, or professional administrative staff employed by the applicant institution. We recommend that applicants employ on-site coordinators or assistants, as appropriate to the managerial and logistical needs of the project. Depending on their assignments and duties, the compensation of the additional project personnel may be calculated on the basis of an appropriate percentage of their full-time academic-year or administrative salary or on a per diem basis. The role and duties that the project staff performs should justify the costs charged to the workshop budget.

If a member of the participant selection committee (other than the project director) is employed by the applicant institution, a $250 stipend for that individual would be included in this line of the budget.

Item 1c: List clerical and administrative support, as well as any support that graduate assistants will provide.

Item 2: Fringe benefits

Calculate fringe benefits for those individuals employed by the applicant institution and listed in Items 1a, 1b, and 1c. Fringe benefits may include contributions for such items as Social Security, employee insurance, and pension plans. Only those benefits that are not included in an organization’s indirect-cost pool may be shown as direct costs. Keep in mind that fringe benefits for clerical, administrative, and part-time personnel may be calculated at different rates than for employees on academic-year appointments. The breakdown shown in the budget form should reflect these calculations.

Item 3: Consultant fees

List those individuals who will contribute to the project as visiting lecturers and leaders of breakout sessions, but who are not employed by the applicant institution. Programs may pay honoraria for distinguished visiting faculty up to $750 per person per day. Enter travel and subsistence reimbursement for consultants in Item 4. If a director or co-director is not employed by the applicant institution, this person’s salary should be entered here, using the compensation amount provided in Item 1a above.

Note: A $250 stipend for any member of the participant selection committee (other than the project director) who is not employed by the applicant institution would be included in this budget item.

Item 4: Travel

List travel and accommodation expenses for visiting consultants listed in Item 3. Include costs for the project director’s travel to a two-day project directors’ meeting held in Washington, D.C. The project director’s travel to and from a workshop site is allowed, as are accommodation expenses at that site. Calculate costs in conformity with the applicant institution’s policy.

Item 5: Supplies and materials

A request may be made to cover reasonable administrative and project charges for supplies, such as computer and instructional materials, educational software, etc. Please note that these costs may be included only if they are not part of the indirect-cost pool.

Item 6: Services

Services include the cost of duplication and printing, long-distance telephone charges and postage, rental of films and equipment, technical support, rental of buses and vans for site visits, and subcontracts of any kind. If you plan to collaborate with another institution, the grants office of the applicant institution may wish to consult with the NEH Office of Grant Management. Note that modest charges for food, such as light refreshments and water on site visits, may also be included. All charges must be essential to the project. (See the section on inadmissible budget items.) Justify these modest requests in the budget narrative. Include an itemization of subcontract costs.

Note on publicity. NEH posts lists of the workshops on its website; it also distributes this information to teachers through electronic bulletin boards, e-mail discussion lists, individual e-mail messages, and printed brochures distributed at professional conferences. To supplement this general publicity, project budgets should include a modest amount of money (up to $5,000) for expenses such as a project website, a communications intern, project dissemination, and publicity efforts to constituencies unique to the specific Landmarks Workshop.

Item 7: Total operating costs are calculated by adding items 1 through 6.
Indirect costs (overhead)
These costs are incurred for common or joint objectives and therefore cannot be readily identified with a specific project or activity of an organization. Items that would be regarded as indirect costs include the salaries of executive officers, the costs of operating and maintaining facilities, local telephone service, office supplies, and accounting and legal services.

Calculate indirect costs by applying a negotiated indirect-cost rate to a distribution base (typically a portion of the direct costs of the project). Organizations that wish to include overhead charges in the budget but do not have a current federally negotiated indirect-cost rate or have not submitted a pending indirect-cost proposal to a federal agency may choose one of the following options:
1. NEH will not require the formal negotiation of an indirect-cost rate, provided that the charge for indirect costs does not exceed 12 percent of direct costs, less distorting items (including, but not limited to, capital expenditures, participant stipends, fellowships, and the portion of each individual subgrant or subcontract in excess of $25,000). This option is not available to sponsorship (umbrella) organizations. Applicants who choose this option should understand that they must maintain documentation to support overhead charges claimed as part of project costs.
2. If your organization wishes to use a rate higher than 12 percent, an estimate of the indirect-cost rate and the charges should be provided on the budget form. If the application is approved for funding, instructions will be provided in the award document on how to negotiate an indirect-cost rate with NEH.
Amount requested from NEH
Amount requested includes items A, B, and C (Total Project Costs).

Budget narrative

A brief budget narrative may be included when requested costs are unusual or not obviously related to the proposed project. Clarification of requested compensation levels may be useful here. If released time from teaching duties is proposed, indicate clearly how it will be used. Provide justifications in the narrative for equipment rentals and purchases.

Inadmissible budget items

The following costs are not allowable and may not appear in project budgets:

the cost of replacement teachers or compensation for faculty members performing their regular duties;
the rental of recreational facilities and costs related to social events such as banquets, receptions, and entertainment; and
tuition fees for participants. (At the discretion of the applicant institution, credit may be awarded to participants who seek it. If any filing fee or tuition must be charged, fix it at the lowest possible rate and charge it directly to those participants wishing to receive credit. Do not deduct such fees from the participants’ stipends.)

4. Appendices

Limit your appendices to essential materials only, including

expanded study plans,
detailed reading lists,
brief biographies or résumés, and
letters of commitment.

Number the pages of your application package, including the appendices, consecutively. When pertinent, refer to items included in the appendices in the narrative description.

5. Evaluations or referee information

Project directors of previously funded Landmarks Workshops must include

copies of all NEH Summer Scholars’ evaluations of their most recently offered workshop; and
an explanation of how their experience as directors has shaped the project currently being proposed. This explanation may be woven into the narrative description of the project or included in this section of the application.

Project directors who have not previously directed an NEH Landmarks Workshop must instead solicit two reference letters (up to two additional letters for a co-directed project) that address the qualifications of the principals and the merits of the project.

Using Form V (Key Contacts), provide your referees’ names and contact information. Several days after the deadline, NEH will contact the referees via e-mail, asking them to submit their reference letters online. Letters must be submitted online no later than March 21.

Applicants are responsible for providing referees with relevant materials (such as a draft of the proposal narrative). Letters of reference are more highly regarded if they address the specific proposed activity and how well the candidate is suited to undertake it.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION VIA GRANTS.GOV

Register or Verify Registration with Grants.gov

Applications for this program must be submitted via Grants.gov. Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register with the website to create an institutional profile. Once registered, your organization can then apply for any government grant on the Grants.gov website.

If your organization has already registered and you have verified that your registration is still valid, you may skip this step. If not, please see the Grants.gov checklist to guide you through the registration process. We strongly recommend that you complete or verify your registration at least two weeks before the application deadline, as it takes time for your registration to be processed. If you have problems registering with Grants.gov, call the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726.

As part of the Grants.gov registration process, applicants are required to register with Central Contractor Registration (CCR). Grantees are also required to maintain the currency of their information in the CCR by reviewing and updating their information at least annually after the initial registration, and more frequently if required by changes in information.

Download the Free Adobe Reader Software

To fill out a Grants.gov application package, you will need to download and install the current version of Adobe Reader. The latest version of Adobe Reader, which is designed to function with PCs and Macintosh computers using a variety of popular operating systems, is available at no charge from the Adobe website (www.adobe.com). Click on “Get Adobe Reader” and then “Download Now.”

Once installed, the current version of Adobe Reader will allow you to view and fill out Grants.gov application packages for any federal agency. If you have a problem installing Adobe Reader, it may be because you do not have permission to install a new program on your computer. Many organizations have rules about installing new programs. If you encounter a problem, contact your system administrator.

Download the Application Package

To submit your application, you will need to download the application package from the Grants.gov website. You can download the application package at any time. (You do not have to wait for your Grants.gov registration to be complete.) Click the button to the right to download the package.

Save the application package to your computer’s hard drive. To open the application package, select the file and double click.

You do not have to be online to work on it.

You can save your application package at any time by clicking the “Save” button at the top of your screen. Tip: If you choose to save your application package before you have completed it, you may receive an error message indicating that your application is not valid. Click “OK” to save your work and complete the package another time. You can also use e-mail to share the application package with members of your organization or project team.

The application package contains four forms that you must complete in order to submit your application and one form required only of project directors who have not previously directed an NEH Landmarks Workshop:

Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Short Organizational—this form asks for basic information about the project, the project director, and the institution.
Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs—this form asks for additional information about the project director, the institution, and the budget.
Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form—this form asks for information about the primary site(s) at which grant activities will take place.
Attachments Form—this form allows you to attach your narrative, budget, and the other parts of your application.
Key Contacts Form—(required only of project directors who have not previously directed an NEH Landmarks Workshop)—this form asks for the names of your referees and their contact information.

To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.

Form I: How to Fill Out the Application for Federal Domestic Assistance—Short Organizational

Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. In items 6, 7, 8, and 9 below, NEH recommends that the project title, brief project description, project director’s name, primary contact/grants administrator’s name, and authorized representative’s name be typed directly onto the form, instead of being pasted in; pasted-in quotation marks, diacritics, and other symbols are often converted into question marks during transmittal.

Please provide the following information:

Name of Federal Agency: This will be filled in automatically with “National Endowment for the Humanities.”
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.
Date Received: Please leave blank.
Funding Opportunity Number: This will be filled in automatically.
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, for example, in the 5th Congressional District of your state, 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).

All institutions applying to federal grant programs are required to provide a DUNS number, issued by Dun & Bradstreet, as part of their application. Project directors should contact their institution’s grants administrator or chief financial officer to obtain their institution’s DUNS number. Federal grant applicants can obtain a DUNS number free of charge by calling 1-866-705-5711. (Learn more about the requirement.)
Project Information: Provide the title of your project. Your title should be brief (no more than 125 characters), descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a nonspecialist audience. Provide a brief (no more than one thousand characters) description of your project. The description should be written for a nonspecialist 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.
Project Director: Provide the name, title, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers for the project director.
Primary Contact/Grants Administrator: Provide the contact information for the official responsible for the administration of the grant (i.e., 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 Primary Contact/Grants Administrator is not the same person as the Project Director. If the project director and the grants administrator are the same person, skip to Item 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 www.grants.gov/applicants/resources.jsp.

Form II: How to Fill Out the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs

Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:

Project Director: Use the pull-down menu to select the major field of study for the project director.
Institution Information: Use the pull-down menu to select your type of institution.
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.
Application Information: Indicate whether the applications 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. Applicants requesting a supplement should provide the current grant number. Before submitting an application for a supplement, applicants should discuss their request with an NEH program officer.

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.

Form III: How to Fill Out the Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form

Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the requested information. Instructions for the form can be found here: http://www.grants.gov/assets/SF424Site_Location_Instructions.pdf. Alternatively, instructions for each requested data element may be viewed by positioning your cursor over the blank field.

Form IV: How to Use the Attachments Form

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

Your attachments must be in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We cannot accept attachments in their original word processing or spreadsheet formats. If you don’t already have software to convert your files into PDFs, many low-cost and free software packages will do so. To learn more, go to www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html.

When you open the Attachments Form, you will find fifteen 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. You must name and attach your files in the proper order so that we can identify them. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below:

ATTACHMENT 1: To this button, please attach your table of contents. Name the file “contents.pdf”.

ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your narrative. Name the file “narrative.pdf”.

ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your budget. Name the file “budget.pdf”.

ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your appendices. Name the file “appendices.pdf”.

ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your evaluations (if you have previously directed an NEH Landmarks Workshop). Name the file “evaluations.pdf”.

Use the remaining buttons to attach any additional materials (if appropriate). Please give these attachments meaningful file names and ensure that they are PDFs.

Form V: How to Use the Key Contacts Form (required only of applicants who have not previously directed an NEH Landmarks Workshop)

Using the same procedure that you used for the first four forms, open this form and provide the following information for each of your referees:

Contact Project Role: Please list Referee 1, Referee 2, and so on.
First Name, Last Name: List the name of each referee.
Address/Telephone: Please list accurate contact information for each referee.
E-mail: This is the e-mail address that NEH will use to contact each one of your referees to give him or her access to the online reference letter system several days after the application deadline. Please be sure that you list an e-mail address that the referee in question will be checking frequently during March. Note that referees may not have regular access to university e-mail if traveling over spring break. Do not provide more than one e-mail address in this field.

UPLOADING YOUR APPLICATION TO GRANTS.GOV

When you have completed all four forms, use the right-facing arrow to move each of them to the “Mandatory Documents for Submission” column. Once they have been moved over, the “Submit” button will activate. You are now ready to upload your application package to Grants.gov.

During the registration process, your institution designated one or more AORs (Authorized Organization Representatives). These AORs typically work in your institution’s Sponsored Research Office or Grants Office. When you have completed your application, you must ask your AOR to submit the application, using the special username and password that were assigned to him or her during the registration process.

To submit your application, your computer must have an active connection to the Internet. To begin the submission process, click the “Submit” button. A page will appear, asking you to sign and submit your application. At this point, your AOR will enter his or her username and password. When you click the “Sign and Submit Application” button, your application package will be uploaded to Grants.gov. Please note that it may take some time to upload your application package, depending on the size of your files and the speed of your Internet connection.

After the upload is complete, a confirmation page will appear. This page, which will include a tracking number, indicates that you have submitted your application to Grants.gov. Please print this page for your records. The AOR will also receive a confirmation e-mail message.

NEH suggests that you submit your application no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day of the deadline. Doing so will leave you time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support, should you encounter a technical problem of some kind. The Grants.gov help desk is now available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day (except on federal holidays), at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e‑mail message to support@grants.gov.

Deadlines

Draft proposals (optional): Program staff recommends that draft proposals be submitted at least four weeks before the deadline. Time constraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date. Staff comments in response to draft proposals are not part of the formal review process and have no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, but previous applicants have found them helpful in strengthening their applications. Drafts should be submitted to landmarks@neh.gov.

Applications must be received by Grants.gov on or before March 1, 2012. Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully uploaded. Applications submitted after that date will not be accepted.

Proposals for Landmarks in American History and Culture: Workshops for School Teachers are evaluated according to the following criteria:

Intellectual significance
- Intellectual significance
- Readings and sources
- Faculty
- Overall quality of proposal
Impact
- Impact on participants
- Impact on the field
Feasibility
- Format and activities
- Scholars and project setting
- Administration and budget

Previously offered Landmarks Workshops

Proposals to repeat Landmarks Workshops previously offered are evaluated by the same criteria as new proposals. As noted earlier, former project directors must submit copies of all evaluations by NEH Summer Scholars of their most recently offered workshop, and they should add evidence of growth and fine-tuning where appropriate. If other considerations are equal, NEH gives preference to new applicants.

A director who submitted his or her first successful NEH Landmarks Workshop application in 2011 is not eligible to reapply in 2012. First-time directors must instead complete their workshop, and receive evaluations from the NEH Summer Scholars, before they can submit proposals to direct another summer program.