Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions

Division of Preservation and Access

Grant Snapshot

Maximum award amount

$10,000

Funding Opportunity for

Organizations

Expected output

Preservation and Collections Care Workshops;
Preservation Assessment Reports;
Preservation Supplies/Equipment

Period of performance

Up to eighteen months

Application available (anticipated)

Next deadline (anticipated)

Expected notification date

Project start date

Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions — such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities — improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections.  These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials.

Applicants must draw on the knowledge of consultants whose preservation skills and experience are related to the types of collections and the nature of the activities on which their projects focus.  Within the conservation field, conservators usually specialize in the care of specific types of collections, such as objects, paper, or paintings.  Applicants should choose a conservator whose specialty is appropriate for the nature of their collections.  Similarly, when assessing the preservation needs of library, museum, or archival holdings, applicants should seek a consultant specifically knowledgeable about the preservation of collections in these types of institutions.

The program encourages applications from small and mid-sized institutions that have never received an NEH grant; community colleges, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities; and Native American tribes and Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian organizations with significant humanities collections. Furthermore, organizations or collections that represent the contributions of under-represented communities are highly encouraged.

An instructional webinar with Q&A was held on October 28, 2022. A recording of the webinar is available below.

Register for a SAM number and an account on Grants.gov

When you are ready to apply, register for an account with SAM.gov and Grants.gov; both are required. If you already have completed the registrations, make sure they are current. 

Complete your application package

Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and in the Grants.gov instructions. 

Submit your application package on Grants.gov

You will receive a confirmation from Grants.gov when you’ve successfully submitted your application. Subsequently, you will receive up to five more notices confirming different stages in the application process. Verify that you have received all confirmations. Note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder

Program Statistics

In the last five competitions this program received an average of
145 Applications
per year
This program has a
53% Funding Ratio
NEH made an average of
66 Awards
per year

Examples of Projects Funded by this Grant Program