Planning Grants for Museums, Libraries, and Special Projects

The summary for the Planning Grants for Museums, Libraries, and Special Projects grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Planning Grants for Museums, Libraries, and Special Projects: Planning Grants are used to refine the content and interpretive approach of projects in order to prepare them for implementation. Applicants should have already identified the key humanities themes and scholarship relevant to their project and consulted with a team of scholarly and programming advisors. The project should be based on sound scholarship, examine the subject analytically, and address a broad set of humanities themes. Projects should: convey significant humanities ideas to the public; use formats and programs creatively to engage audiences; examine topics and ideas in a regional or national context; and extend their impact by reaching beyond a local level, involving new audiences, or serving as models. Each project should be guided by a team of advisors whose expertise complements that of the staff of the institution applying for the grant. The project team should help refine the project's themes, incorporate a variety of perspectives, draw on relevant scholarship, and develop possible interpretive approaches. While scholars must be part of the project team, museum curators or educators, librarians, and others with experience and knowledge of the humanities or the project's technical aspects may also participate as consultants. Most competitive proposals have a range of consultants whose expertise is tailored to the particular needs of the project. Support is available for all activities connected with project planning, including: meetings with advisers; preliminary audience evaluation; travel to collections or to other resources; drafting of label and exhibition text; preliminary exhibition and/or website design; and general preparation of the associated programs and materials for dissemination.