State Humanities Councils General Operating Support Grants
Office of Federal/State Partnership
THE DEADLINE FOR THIS CYCLE HAS PASSED.
Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, please use these guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.
Grant Snapshot
Open to
Application available
Application due
Expected notification date
Project start date
ALERT from SAM.gov: The first time you log in to SAM.gov after June 29, 2018, you’ll be asked to create a login.gov user account (if you don’t already have one). Going forward, you will use your login.gov username and password every time you log in to SAM.gov. Your current SAM.gov username and password will no longer work. If you are renewing or registering a new entity in SAM.gov, you must mail an original, signed notarized letter stating that you are the authorized Entity Administrator for the entity associated with the DUNS number. Read the FAQs to learn more about these process changes. Currently SAM.gov recommends that registrations and renewals submit their notarized letters at least 45 days in advance of expiration dates or anticipated needs. Please note that you will be unable to access Grants.gov Workspace or fillable application forms until your SAM.gov registration is active.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent federal agency in the executive branch, provides general operating support grants to 55 state and jurisdictional humanities councils. The councils operate, as designated by Congress, in each of the fifty states as well as in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Federal/State Partnership is the NEH office designated to work with the councils.
The Office of Federal/State Partnership is the liaison between NEH and the state and jurisdictional humanities councils. The council community helps NEH realize its two primary strategic goals: advancing knowledge and understanding of the humanities and increasing public awareness of, access to, and support for the humanities in the United States. Through grant-making and initiatives state humanities councils make high-quality humanities education and lifelong learning readily available at the state and local level, uniquely tailored to community interests and needs and drawing upon local resources and experiences. They also help extend the reach of NEH-funded projects and ensure that NEH remains connected to local and regional communities.
General Operating Support Grants have a five-year period of performance, with funding provided in years one, two, and three, followed by two subsequent years to complete funded activities. NEH determines annual funding for each state and jurisdictional council according to a legislatively mandated formula. Councils are expected to obligate most of the funds awarded each year by the end of the funding period (November 1-October 31).
Important Announcement
The Grants.gov application package for this program is now available.
Please note: this grant opportunity is only for recognized state humanities councils, currently listed here: https://www.neh.gov/about/state-humanities-councils
Verify that your SAM number and DUNS number is up-to-date, and verify your access account for grants.gov. Begin by reading the full grant guidelines and studying the application and required supplementary materials.
Download Application Materials
State Humanities Councils General Operating Support Grants program guidelines (PDF)
State Humanities Councils General Operating Support Grants program guidelines (DOC)
Certification Regarding Lobbying (PDF) *
Grants.gov Application Package for State Humanities Councils General Operating Support Grants
Disclosure of Lobbying Activities form (PDF)
* This document may not open in your web browser. If this is the case, right click on the link to save the PDF to your desktop.
Verify with the Office of Federal/State Partnership or the Office of Grant Management whether you are applying for a NEW award or a SUPPLEMENTARY award. Mark the appropriate box on the Cover Sheet for this application package.
Be sure to follow the instructions outlined in the guidelines and in the grants.gov instructions.
You will receive a confirmation from grants.gov when you've successfully submitted your application.
After you submit your application, Grants.gov will send you up to five e-mail messages confirming receipt of your application. These messages represent different stages in the application acceptance process. You should verify that you have received all confirmation messages. Please note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder.
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