NEH Grant Programs
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections , Deadline: Decemeber 8, 2009 (for projects beginning July 2010)
Date posted: August 20, 2009
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 45.149
Questions?
Contact the staff of NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access at 202-606-8570 or preservation@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Grant Program Description
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections helps cultural institutions meet the complex challenge of preserving large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations by supporting preventive conservation measures that mitigate deterioration and prolong the useful life of collections.
Libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations across the country are responsible for collections of books and manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings and moving images, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, art, and historical objects that facilitate research, strengthen teaching, and provide opportunities for life-long learning in the humanities. To preserve and ensure continued access to such collections, institutions must implement preventive conservation measures, which encompass managing relative humidity, temperature, light, and pollutants in collection spaces, providing protective storage enclosures and systems for collections, and safeguarding collections from theft and from natural and man-made disasters.
As they strive to be effective stewards of humanities collections, cultural repositories are increasingly interested in sustainable preservation strategies. NEH therefore invites proposals that explore and implement energy-efficient and cost-effective preventive conservation measures designed to mitigate the greatest risks to collections.
To help institutions develop sound preventive conservation projects, NEH encourages collaborative and interdisciplinary planning, which may be especially helpful for identifying sustainable strategies. Such planning would include consideration of the following factors: the nature of the materials in a collection; the performance of the building, its envelope, and its systems in moderating internal environmental conditions; the capabilities of the institution; the nature of the local climate and the effects of climate change; the cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency of various approaches to preventive conservation; and the project’s impact on the environment.
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections offers two kinds of awards:
Grants for Planning and Evaluation
To help an institution develop and assess preventive conservation strategies, grants of up to $40,000 will support planning and evaluation projects, which may encompass such activities as site visits, planning sessions, monitoring, testing, project-specific research, and preliminary designs for implementation projects. Planning and evaluation grants may be especially helpful to institutions interested in exploring sustainable preventive conservation strategies.
These grants might be used to
  • assess risks to collections and identify realistic approaches for mitigating them;
  • examine passive and low-energy alternatives to conventional energy-intensive mechanized systems for managing environmental conditions;
  • analyze existing climate control systems and the performance characteristics of buildings and building envelopes to develop a plan for improved operation, effectiveness, and energy efficiency; and
  • evaluate the effectiveness of preventive conservation strategies previously implemented, including energy-efficient upgrades to existing systems and performance upgrades to buildings and building envelopes.
Planning and evaluation projects should involve an interdisciplinary team appropriate to the goals of the project. The team may consist of consultants and members of the institution’s staff and might include architects, building engineers, conservation scientists, conservators, curators, and facilities managers, among others.
For projects that focus on serving the field by developing new technical standards, best practices, and tools for preserving humanities collections, please see Preservation and Access Research and Development grants. For projects that focus on basic preservation projects, see Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions.
Grants for Implementation
To help an institution implement a preventive conservation project, grants of up to $400,000 are available. Implementation projects should be based on planning that has been specific to the needs of the institution and its collections within the context of its local environment. It is not necessary to receive an NEH planning and evaluation grant to be eligible for an implementation grant. Planning could be supported by NEH, other federal agencies, private foundations, or an institution’s internal funds.
Implementation grants to preserve humanities collections might be used to
  • manage interior relative humidity and temperature by passive methods such as creating buffered spaces and housing, controlling moisture at its sources, or improving the thermal and moisture performance of a building envelope;
  • install or re-commission heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems;
  • install storage systems and rehouse collections;
  • improve security and the protection of collections from fire, flood, and other disasters; and
  • upgrade lighting systems and controls, to achieve energy efficiency and levels suitable for collections.
Implementation Grants may also cover costs associated with renovation required to implement preventive conservation measures. Because Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grants may not fund new construction, the costs of installing climate control, security, and fire protection systems in a building under construction are not eligible. However, grants may support the purchase of storage furniture and the rehousing of collections that will be moved into a new building.
Applicants may request support for cataloging, documenting, and digitizing collections only when these activities are integral to the proposed project. If these activities constitute a major portion of the project, an applicant should seek support through Humanities Collections and Reference Resources.
Lessons Learned
Planning, evaluation, and implementation projects that focus on sustainable preservation strategies will be expected to create a white paper documenting lessons learned, so that others can benefit from the grantees’ experience. White papers will be posted on the NEH Web site.
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grants may not be used for
  • the preservation of materials that are the responsibility of an agency of the federal government, are privately held, or are not freely accessible for research;
  • the installation of climate control, security, lighting, and fire protection systems as a component of a project to construct a new building;
  • the preservation of the built or natural environment;
  • the renovation or restoration of historic structures, except insofar as that activity is needed to preserve humanities collections that such a structure houses;
  • the stabilization of archaeological sites; or
  • asbestos abatement.
Previously Funded Projects
An institution whose project has received NEH support may apply for a grant for a new or subsequent stage of that project. These proposals receive no special consideration and will be judged by the same criteria as others in the grant competition. In addition, these proposals must be substantially updated and must include a description of the new activities and a justification of the new budget. The applicant must also describe how the previously funded project met its goals.
III. Award Information
The maximum award for planning and evaluation grants is $40,000, for up to two years. Grants can be made for up to five years for implementation projects, with a maximum award of $400,000. Successful applicants will be awarded a grant in outright funds, federal matching funds, or a combination of the two, depending on the applicant’s preference and the availability of NEH funds.
(Learn about different types of grant funding.)
Cost sharing
Cost sharing consists of the cash contributions made to the project by the applicant, third parties, and other federal agencies, as well as third party in-kind contributions, such as donated services and goods. Cost sharing also includes gift money raised to release federal matching funds.
Although cost sharing is not required, NEH is rarely able to support the full costs of projects approved for funding. In most cases, NEH Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grants cover no more than 80 percent of project costs for planning and evaluation projects and 50 percent of project costs for implementation projects.
Eligibility
Any U.S. nonprofit organization is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies and tribal governments. Grants are not awarded to individuals.
NEH generally does not award grants to other federal entities or to applicants whose projects are so closely intertwined with a federal entity that the project takes on characteristics of the federal entity’s own authorized activities. This does not preclude applicants from using grant funds from, or sites and materials controlled by, other federal entities in their projects.
Late, incomplete, and ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
Application and Submission Information

Application advice and proposal drafts
Prior to submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to contact program officers, who can offer advice about preparing the proposal and review preliminary proposal drafts if they are submitted at least six weeks before the deadline. Time constraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date. Draft proposals should be submitted by e-mail attachment to preservation@neh.gov. Staff comments 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.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR APPLICATION
You will prepare your application for submission via Grants.gov just as you would a paper application. Your application should consist of the following parts.
  1. Description of the project and its significance
    Provide a one-page abstract written for a nonspecialist audience, clearly explaining the project’s importance to the humanities, its principal activities, and its expected results.
  2. Table of contents
    List all parts of the application and, beginning with the narrative, number all pages consecutively.
  3. Narrative
    For planning and evaluation grants, limit the narrative to ten single-spaced pages, and for implementation grants, limit the narrative to twenty single-spaced pages. All pages should have one-inch margins and the font size should be no smaller than eleven point. Use appendices to provide supplementary material.
    As relevant, include sample materials (such as photographs) that illustrate the collections’ current conditions and the experience of the project’s staff in doing comparable work.
    Keep the application review criteria (see below) in mind when writing the narrative, which consists of the following sections.
    • Introduction
      Provide an overview of your project and request to NEH, and explain how they fit into the institution’s strategic plan and preservation priorities.
      Provide an overview of your collections and the importance of the project on the basis of its value for research, education, or public programming in the humanities.
      Provide a profile of your organization, including its institutional history and mission, physical facilities, number of staff, operating budget, and annual users or visitors. Discuss the collections’ relevance to the institution’s mission. Identify plans or policies that guide the collections’ development.
    • Significance of collections
      Describe in detail the nature, size, and intellectual content of the collections that are the focus of the project. Provide information about the collections’ current, past, or potential use in research, exhibitions, loans, publications, and educational programs and identify the fields or areas of scholarship that will benefit from the preservation of these materials. Discuss the relation of the collections to similar holdings in other repositories.
    • Current conditions
      Describe the present condition of the collections and provide an overview of preventive conservation practices and policies at your institution. For example, describe current environmental conditions as well as storage methods and materials. Also identify policies, practices, and systems that are in place to protect collections from fire, theft, pests, and disasters. Consider including visual documentation in appendices to illustrate the preservation problems described in the proposal.
      Describe the current level of administrative and intellectual control of the collections. If the project involves the movement or relocation of collections, explain how the current levels of control prepare for successful implementation of the project.
    • History of the project
      Define the preservation challenge that the project addresses. Discuss previous preservation actions and the findings of research or studies (such as general preservation/conservation assessments and specialized consultations) that lay a foundation for the proposed project. This section of the narrative should provide the rationale for undertaking the proposed planning, evaluation, or implementation activities, along with the expected outcomes.
    • Methods and standards
      Explain and justify the methods and the procedures proposed for your project. As relevant, discuss how the project explores or employs sustainable preservation strategies.
      Planning and evaluation projects must explain how the project’s team has been assembled and discuss how the project’s framework, methods, and analyses are related to the expected outcomes.
      Implementation projects must be at a stage of schematic design when the application is submitted. If you are not following or are modifying the recommendations of assessors and specialists, explain why. Discuss any measures that will be taken to ensure that the collections are professionally maintained and protected during the project.
      For rehousing and storage projects: Describe the methods and materials used to rehouse the collections and discuss how the storage plan was developed. Include floor plans of the existing and proposed storage areas that indicate square footage and the layout of cabinets and shelving.
      For projects to improve and manage environmental conditions: Describe current environmental conditions and discuss expected conditions. Provide a detailed description of steps that will be taken to improve conditions for humanities collections. As relevant, describe the primary design features of passive measures, mechanized systems, and equipment proposed for managing or controlling conditions. Mention institutional policies, procedures, and staffing that relate to the provision of appropriate environments for collections. Discuss plans for ongoing management and monitoring of conditions, energy consumption, and system performance. (Environmental monitoring equipment may be included in the project’s budget.) Address the potential impact that the proposed environmental improvements would have on the structure or building envelope, particularly if the building is a historic structure.
      NEH funds must focus only on activities and equipment required to provide appropriate environmental conditions for humanities collections. In multi-use facilities, costs for conditioning noncollection spaces should be excluded from the project’s budget.
      For projects to install or improve security, fire protection, or lighting: Describe the primary design features and explain how the proposed equipment would work in conjunction with institutional policies, procedures, and staffing to protect collections.
      If you intend to conserve, digitize, or catalog collections within the context of your project, provide a rationale for this work and a full description of these activities. Applicants should refer to the guidelines for Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grants for information required in an application to carry out these activities.
      Applications to preserve Native American collections should discuss the institution’s compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and other relevant national and local statutes and regulations.
    • Work plan
      Outline the steps of the planning, evaluation, or implementation project and discuss how each will be carried out. Include a schedule indicating what will be accomplished during each stage of the project. Indicate who is responsible for each activity.
    • Project team
      Provide a comprehensive overview of the project’s team, including staff members and consultants. Describe the qualifications and contributions of each team member. Job descriptions should be included for any new staff hired for the project.
      Include in the appendices résumés (of two pages or less) for each member of the project’s team and letters of commitment from consultants.
  4. History of grants
    If the project has received previous support from any federal or nonfederal sources, including NEH, list on one page the sources, dates, and amounts of these funds. If the project has a long history of support, the sources and contributions may be grouped and summarized.
  5. List of participants
    On a separate page, list in alphabetical order, surnames first, all project participants and collaborators and their institutional affiliations. When relevant, this list should include advisory board members, consultants, and authors of letters of commitment and letters of support. Because these individuals may not participate in the review process, this list is used to ensure that prospective evaluators have no conflict of interest with the projects that they will assess.
  6. Budget
    Using the instructions (PDF), complete the budget form (PDF). While all items should be justified by the narrative, further explanation may be included in brief budget notes. For any outsourced work, third-party contractor costs should be included in the budget category “Services.” Attach a complete itemization of these costs to the budget form. If there is more than one contractor, each one must be listed on the budget form and the costs itemized separately.
    To the maximum extent practical, all procurement contracts must be made through an open and free competition. They are to be awarded to the bidder or offeror whose bid or offer is most advantageous, considering price, quality and other factors. Applicants must justify procurement contracts in excess of $100,000 that are not awarded by competitive bids or offers.
    Permanent equipment may be purchased for a project if an analysis demonstrates that purchasing is more economical and practical than leasing. Permanent equipment is defined as nonexpendable personal property costing $5,000 or more and having a useful life of more than one year.
    Consistent with the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a-c and Public Law 105-277), grantees and subrecipients who purchase equipment and products with grant funds should purchase only American-made equipment and products.
  7. Appendices
    Use appendices to provide the following items.
    • assessments and specialized studies. Include copies of assessments or specialized studies that are directly relevant to the project (e.g., a study of current environmental conditions, a preliminary design report that provides a description of the systems to be installed to protect the collections, or an analysis of storage conditions and requirements). Hyperlinks to online versions of such studies may also be included in the narrative.
    • technical specifications for building envelope improvements, equipment, or systems. Attach product data and specifications for proposed materials, equipment, and systems. Please consult program staff before submitting blueprints or other bulky specifications that cannot be submitted digitally via Grants.gov. (See How to Submit Supplementary Materials below.)
    • brief résumés (no longer than two pages) for staff with major responsibilities for the project’s implementation and for consultants to the project;
    • job descriptions for any additional staff who will be hired specifically to work on the project;
    • letters of commitment from key participants or partners, both within and outside the applicant institution; and
    • letters of support (preferably no more than three) from experts in the project’s subject area, the proposed methodology, or the technical plan.
Special Requirements for Renovation Projects
Section 106 Review Process and Letter from the State Historic Preservation Office
Applicants requesting support for building renovations are required to consult with their state historic preservation officer (SHPO) to determine if a property or site is listed, or is eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places. The SHPO’s eligibility determination should be included in an appendix to the application. If a property is eligible for or listed in the National Register, the applicant should, if possible, also include in an appendix to the application the SHPO’s written comments as to the effect of the project on the building or site, in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
Additionally, applicants who receive NEH grant funds for renovation projects on property or sites listed, or eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places must provide NEH with assistance in carrying out its responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, 16 U.S.C. Section 470f, as amended. For all funded renovation projects, Section 106 requires NEH to conduct a review to determine whether historic properties will be affected. If historic properties will be adversely affected by a project, Section 106 requires that NEH consult with the SHPO and the applicant to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the adverse effect.
The Section 106 review process is initiated once NEH makes a decision to fund an application for renovation projects on property or sites listed, or eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places. If such an application is selected for funding, the NEH Office of Grant Management will contact the applicant with a request for any additional information about the project that might be needed for Section 106 review. Once this information is received, NEH will conduct a review and determine whether further action is needed in order to comply with Section 106. The length of the Section 106 review process varies for each project. However, applicants can minimize the length of the review process by familiarizing themselves with Section 106 and by submitting required documentation with the grant application. NEH is not permitted to release any grant funds until the Section 106 process has concluded.
For more information on the Section 106 review process, the required documentation, and the responsibilities of an applicant prior to and during the Section 106 review, please read the Section 106 FAQs, or contact the NEH Federal Preservation Officer by e-mail at FPO@neh.gov, by phone at 202-606-8309, or by mail sent to Federal Preservation Officer, Office of Challenge Grants, Room 420, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20506.
Wage Rates for Renovation
Renovation projects using federal funds, in whole or in part, are subject in their entirety to the Davis-Bacon Act.
Applicants should indicate in the narrative their awareness of and plans to meet the special requirements for renovation projects.
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 Web site to create an institutional profile. Once registered, your organization can then apply for any government grant on the Grants.gov Web site.
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.
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 Web site (www.adobe.com).
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 Web site. 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 at 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 all the required forms, 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:
  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. Project/Performance Site Location(s)—this form asks for information about the primary site(s) at which grant activities will take place.
  4. NEH Attachment Form—this form allows you to attach your narrative, budget, and the other parts of your application.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
HOW TO FILL OUT THE SF-424 SHORT FORM
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:
  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, Web site 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.)
  6. Project Information: Provide the title of your project. Your title should be brief, descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a nonspecialist audience. Provide a brief 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.
  7. Project Director:
    Provide the last four digits of the Social Security Number, name, title, mailing address, 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 (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.
  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.
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:
  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. 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.
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 each requested data element may be viewed by positioning your cursor over the blank field.
HOW TO USE THE NEH ATTACHMENT FORM
You will use this form to attach the 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 NEH Attachment 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 description of the project and its significance. Please name the file “projectdescription.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your table of contents. Please name the file “contents.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your narrative. Please name the file “narrative.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your history of grants. Please name the file “granthistory.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your list of project participants, consultants, and advisers. Please name the file “participants.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your budget. Please name the file “budget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your appendices. Please name the file “appendices.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.
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 includes 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 open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e-mail message to support@grants.gov.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
HOW TO SUBMIT SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
If you are sending supplementary materials (those that cannot be scanned and converted to an electronic form and submitted via Grants.gov), please include a list of the supplementary materials in the application’s table of contents, with an indication that the materials are being sent separately. The supplementary materials should be sent to the following address:
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections
Division of Preservation and Access
Room 411
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8570
NEH continues to experience lengthy delays in the delivery of mail by the U.S. Postal Service, and in some cases materials are damaged by the irradiation process. We recommend that supplementary materials be sent by a commercial delivery service to ensure that they arrive intact by the receipt deadline.
Deadlines
Applications must be received by Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time), Tuesday, December 8, 2009. Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully uploaded. Applications submitted after that date will not be accepted. Supplementary materials must also arrive at NEH by December 8, 2009, to be considered as part of the application.
Application Review
Evaluators are asked to apply the following criteria in assessing applications:
  • the significance of the collections and the potential impact of the project for the humanities;
  • the project’s methodological soundness and, for implementation projects, the thoroughness of the planning that has informed the project;
  • the viability, efficiency, and productivity of the work plan;
  • the experience and appropriateness of the project’s team in relation to the activities for which support is requested; and
  • the reasonableness of the proposed budget in relation to anticipated results.
Review and selection process
Knowledgeable persons outside NEH will read each application and advise the agency about its merits. NEH staff comments on matters of fact or on significant issues that otherwise would be missing from these reviews, then makes recommendations to the National Council on the Humanities. The National Council meets at various times during the year to advise the NEH chairman on grants. The chairman takes into account the advice provided by the review process and, by law, makes all funding decisions.
Award Administration Information
Award notices
Applicants will be notified by e-mail in June 2010 of the decision. Institutional grants administrators and project directors of successful applications will also receive at that time award documents by mail. Applicants may obtain the evaluations of their applications by sending a letter or e-mail message to NEH, Division of Preservation and Access, Room 411, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506 or preservation@neh.gov.
Administrative requirements
Before submitting an application, applicants should review their responsibilities as an award recipient and the lobbying certification requirement.
Award conditions
The requirements for awards are contained in the General Terms and Conditions for Awards to Organizations, any specific terms and conditions contained in the award document, and the applicable OMB circulars governing federal grants management.
Reporting requirements
A schedule of report due dates will be included with the award document.
Interim and final performance reports will be required. Further details can be found in Performance Reporting Requirements.
A final Federal Financial Report (SF-425) will be due within ninety days after the end of the award period.
Points of Contact
If you have questions about the program, contact:
Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections
Division of Preservation and Access
Room 411
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8570 or preservation@neh.gov
If you need help using Grants.gov, contact:
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Grants.gov help desk: support@grants.gov
Grants.gov customer support tutorials and manuals: http://www.grants.gov/applicants/resources.jsp
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Grants.gov troubleshooting tips.
Other Information
Privacy Policy
Information in these guidelines is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 956. The principal purpose for which the information will be used is to process the grant application. The information may also be used for statistical research, analysis of trends, and Congressional oversight. Failure to provide the information may result in the delay or rejection of the application.
Application Completion Time
The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies to supply information on the time needed to complete forms and also to invite comments on the paperwork burden. NEH estimates that the average time to complete this application is fifteen hours per response. This estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, researching, gathering, and maintaining the information needed, and completing and reviewing the application.
Please send any comments regarding the estimated completion time or any other aspect of this application, including suggestions for reducing the completion time, to the Office of Publications, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC 20506; and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3136-0134), Washington, DC 20503. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number.
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